Harlingen, TX Night Sky Brightness
Harlingen, TX's night sky, measured from orbit
Satellite radiance puts Harlingen in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Harlingen's sky is brighter than 85.4% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Harlingen
San Benito, TX, about 5 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban band, one step darker than Harlingen. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
San Benito, TX is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Harlingen compares nationally
Harlingen, TX has a population of about 72,234, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Harlingen's position, 2,722 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.