Best time to see the northern lights in Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska
Anaktuvuk Pass gets aurora on 68 clear nights in a typical year. January is the best month at 14.2 of them, and aurora needs Kp 1 or higher, which the planetary index last reached on 29 March 2026.
These are typical-year figures: a 1996–2026 planetary Kp record crossed with a 2001–2020 cloud normal. They describe a normal year, not tonight — the live Anaktuvuk Pass forecast shows the actual cloud, moon and darkness right now. Check tonight's forecast for Anaktuvuk Pass →
🌌 Clear nights a year
68
Regular — 68 clear nights in a typical year.
🌟 Best month
January
14.2 clear nights in a typical year
⚡ Kp needed
Kp 1
Horizon threshold; last reached 29 March 2026
🧭 Auroral oval (model)
Overhead
Model estimate at Kp 1, magnetic latitude 68°
Month by month in Anaktuvuk Pass
Astronomical darkness, the nights on which planetary Kp reached Kp 1 inside that darkness, the same count over the current solar cycle alone, and what the local cloud normal leaves of the long-run figure.
| Month | Astronomical darkness | Opportunity nights | Since 2023 | Mean cloud | Clear opportunity nights | Moon-free |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12.36h | 27.57 | 32.03 | 48.5% | 53.2% | |
| February | 9.62h | 24.31 | 28.5 | 57.4% | 53.5% | |
| March | 5.17h on 91.8% of nights | 22.65 | 27.42 | 49% | 56% | |
| April | No astronomical darkness | — | — | 58.7% | — | — |
| May | No astronomical darkness | — | — | 71% | — | — |
| June | No astronomical darkness | — | — | 71.1% | — | — |
| July | No astronomical darkness | — | — | 76% | — | — |
| August | No astronomical darkness | — | — | 78.2% | — | — |
| September | 4.15h on 62.9% of nights | 13.85 | 13.57 | 77.5% | 58.7% | |
| October | 8.51h | 25.19 | 23.07 | 74.8% | 55.9% | |
| November | 11.75h | 24.31 | 23.35 | 56.6% | 53.4% | |
| December | 13.21h | 25.29 | 23.89 | 53% | 53.7% |
April, May, June, July and August never reach astronomical darkness at Anaktuvuk Pass, so no Kp value makes them viewable there and they are excluded rather than scored.
Opportunity nights are the whole 1996–2026 record. In the current solar cycle alone (since 2023), January has averaged 32.03 rather than 27.57.
- January: 12.36h of astronomical darkness a night
- January: 27.57 nights reach the Kp threshold inside that darkness
- January: 48.5% mean cloud leaves 14.2 of them clear
- January: 53.2% of those nights are moon-free
Nearby in Alaska
The strongest locations in the same state, by clear aurora nights a year.
How these numbers were made
- Evaluated at
- Anaktuvuk Pass, 68.1498° N 151.6971° W — darkness and cloud are properties of that point, not of a region.
- Darkness
- sun geometric altitude at or below -18 degrees (astronomical twilight). 10-minute samples across every year of the Kp record (1996-2026), averaged per night of each month rather than sampled on one representative day.
- Geomagnetic record
- GFZ Potsdam planetary Kp index, 3-hourly, 1996-01-01 to 2026-09-07 — 89,661 intervals, licensed CC BY 4.0.
- Cloud
- NASA POWER SYN1DEG 20-year Meteorological and Solar Monthly & Annual Climatologies (January 2001 - December 2020), parameter CLOUD_AMT. A monthly mean, not a forecast.
- Moon
- A night counts as moon-free below 35% lunar illumination while the moon is up.
- Auroral oval
- NOAA auroral oval — model estimate, reported separately. The figure for this location is above, beside the measured record it never replaces.
- Clear opportunity nights
- clear opportunity nights = nights on which at least one 3-hour Kp interval falls inside local astronomical darkness and reaches the location’s horizon threshold, scaled by (1 - monthly mean cloud amount)
- Dataset version
- Version 2026-09-07, computed offline by seo-ops scripts/aurora-usa-best-time-data.ts.
The same dataset for every tracked city and state is published at US Aurora Season Climatology, and how the live forecast is built is on the methodology page. Kp record: GFZ Potsdam (CC BY 4.0). Cloud normal: NASA POWER.
Frequently asked questions
When can you see the northern lights in Anaktuvuk Pass?
January is the best month, with 14.2 clear nights in a typical year out of 68 clear nights across the whole year. Every month except April, May, June, July and August carries some chance. April, May, June, July and August never reach astronomical darkness, so no Kp value makes them viewing months.
What Kp is needed to see the aurora from Anaktuvuk Pass?
Anaktuvuk Pass needs Kp 1 or higher for aurora on the northern horizon, Kp 2 for a noticeable display and Kp 3 for a bright one. The NOAA auroral-oval model places the oval overhead at Anaktuvuk Pass once the planetary index reaches Kp 1. That is a model estimate; the dates on this page come from the measured Kp record instead.
Has the aurora ever been visible from Anaktuvuk Pass?
Yes. In the 1996–2026 planetary Kp record the index reached the horizon threshold for Anaktuvuk Pass, Kp 1, most recently on 29 March 2026, and the Kp 2 needed for a noticeable display on 28 March 2026. Whether anyone saw it also depended on the cloud, moonlight and darkness of that night, which the Kp record does not carry.
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