Northern Lights Forecast for Banff

Northern Lights in Banff

Banff is a town of about 8,300 people at 1,400 m inside Banff National Park in Alberta, about 130 km west of Calgary. At 51°N the aurora is not part of a normal night. It takes a geomagnetic storm, a G1 minor storm at the least, and most displays stay low over the peaks to the north. The local tourism office puts the season at October to May, when the nights are long enough. Calgary International Airport is about 145 km east, 90 minutes to two hours on the Trans-Canada, with shuttle buses to Banff and Lake Louise; there is no regular passenger train.

Out of the townsite: Vermilion Lakes to Castle Junction

The townsite is lit and closed in by Rundle, Sulphur, Norquay, Cascade and Tunnel Mountain, so on a storm night people head for open ground with a view north.

• Vermilion Lakes, just west of town, can be reached on foot or by bike. The view is not straight north, but a strong display reaches over the Rundle range, and the third lake has the least light from town.
• Lake Minnewanka, about 10 minutes’ drive north-east, is the largest lake in the park and gives a wide sky from the dam. On a storm night it is one of the busiest spots in the park. Park only in marked spots, never on the road across the dam.
• Two Jack Lake and Cascade Ponds are on the same loop road, closer to town. Cascade Ponds has a clear view north from its picnic area.
• Castle Junction, halfway to Lake Louise off the Trans-Canada, puts Castle Mountain in the foreground along the Bow River.

The Minnewanka loop and Bow Valley Parkway closures

The western section of the Lake Minnewanka loop closes to vehicles from November to May for a wildlife corridor. The eastern section stays open, so Cascade Ponds, Two Jack and Minnewanka are reachable from the Trans-Canada side; you drive back out the same way.

The 17 km of the Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A) nearest Banff, east of Johnston Canyon, is closed to everyone overnight from early March to late June, to give wildlife room.

Jasper’s Dark Sky Preserve, 290 km north

Banff National Park has no dark-sky designation. Jasper National Park, the next park north, has been a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Dark Sky Preserve since 2011, with a Dark Sky Festival every October. It is roughly 290 km from Banff by the Icefields Parkway, a separate trip rather than an evening out.