Worth Going Out

Northern lights in Yellowknife in August

Canada. Figures for August 2027, calculated by us. Times are local.

Maybe

Only a short dark spell. In mid-August the sky is dark enough for the aurora from about 00:17 to 03:07, 2.3 hours a night.

Darkness through the month

1 August: no real darkness.
15 August: 2.3 hours.
End of August: 5.3 hours. The nights are getting longer through the month.

“Dark” here means the Sun is more than 12° below the horizon. Faint aurora needs a darker sky; a strong display can show earlier in the evening.

The Moon in August 2027

New Moon: 2 August 2027. The week around it has the darkest skies.
Full Moon: 17 August 2027. A bright Moon makes the aurora look fainter, though it is still there.
New Moon: 31 August 2027. The week around it has the darkest skies.

What to expect

There is only a short window of darkness around the middle of the night. It is possible to catch a strong display, but this is the edge of the season.
Winter nights are very cold. Several operators run heated viewing cabins outside town.

A tent glowing orange under green northern lights and the Milky Way, in a snowy forest — Camping under the northern lights near Yellowknife, Canada. Photo: Steve FUNG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Get a note when it is worth going out

A short email before an eclipse, a strong meteor shower or a dark week worth planning for. No more than a few a month.

Yellowknife: the whole year. All northern lights destinations.

Sources

Darkness, sunrise and Moon phases: our calculation, Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 (MIT licence). How we worked it out.
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Tips on viewing the aurora.