Where in Norway are the northern lights most likely?
Of the three Norwegian places on Aurorama, Svolvær in Lofoten had the most good nights in March: 31%, against 24% in Tromsø and 23% in Alta. A good night has at least one hour that is dark, clear and active enough for the aurora. The record runs from 1995 to 2025, hour by hour.
Good nights by month in Norway
The order of the three places barely changes through the dark season. Svolvær leads or ties in every month with darkness, from 29% of nights in September to 33% in October, its best month.
Tromsø has its best month in January, at 32%. Alta also peaks in January, at 26%, and falls furthest behind in October, when only 18% of its nights were good.
From February to March the share moves by a few points at each place, while the three places differ by more than that in both months. Choosing the town matters more than choosing between those two months.
| Place | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tromsø | 32 | 28 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 28 |
| Alta | 26 | 22 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 22 |
| Svolvær | 32 | 30 | 31 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 33 | 31 | 32 |
What stops the aurora in Norway
Cloud, by a wide margin. In March it took 72% of nights in Tromsø, 71% in Alta and 63% in Svolvær. A clear night with too little activity was rare: 4%, 6% and 6% of March nights.
So on a Norwegian trip the sun is seldom the problem. The useful question is how to get under a gap in the cloud, which is why being able to move to clearer sky matters more than the Kp forecast.
| Place | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tromsø | 62 | 67 | 72 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 76 | 71 | 66 | 62 |
| Alta | 68 | 73 | 71 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 77 | 72 | 71 |
| Svolvær | 62 | 63 | 63 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 66 | 61 | 60 | 58 |
When the dark season ends in Norway
April is the turning point. In April, 68% of Tromsø nights, 71% of Alta nights and 54% of Svolvær nights had no dark hour at all. From May to July none of the three had a single dark hour in any year of the record.
Svolvær, the furthest south of the three, gets its darkness back first: 3% of its August nights were already good, while Tromsø and Alta had none until September.
A longer stay in Norway
Over five nights in a row in March, a trip saw at least one good night 64 times in 100 in Tromsø, 69 in Alta and 76 in Svolvær. The comparison of all ten places, for one to ten nights, is on the page how many nights do I need.
Place pages in Norway
Northern lights tours in Norway
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