Locations / Norway / Troms
Tromsø
The aurora capital of the world, on an island you can reach by direct flight.
Next nine nights
Aurora in Tromsø
Tromsø sits at 69.6° N, directly under the auroral oval on most active nights. You do not need a big storm here: even a quiet Kp 1–2 evening often puts a green arc on the northern horizon, provided the sky is clear.
The catch is weather. Tromsø is coastal, fed by the Gulf Stream, and cloud is the main thing that ruins a night. The upside of the geography is that clear skies are rarely far away: the inland valleys toward Finland and Sweden, an hour or two by road, are often drier than the island itself.
The sun stays below the horizon from roughly late November to mid January (the polar night), but the sky is not pitch black: you get a deep blue twilight around midday. Real aurora darkness is from around 17:00 to 02:00 for most of the season.
Season
Late September to early April. Darkest and most reliable from November to February.
At a glance
- Latitude
- 69.65° N
- Geomagnetic latitude
- ≈ 67° N
- Polar night
- late Nov – mid Jan
- Time zone
- CET / CEST
Getting there
Direct flights from Oslo and several European cities; the airport is about 15 minutes from the centre.
Tips for Tromsø
- Check the cloud map before the Kp number. Clear and quiet beats cloudy and stormy.
- Walk out of town: the city glow washes out faint aurora. Kvaløya and Ersfjordbotn are common short drives.
- A tour that chases clear sky across the border into Finland or Sweden roughly doubles your odds on a bad-weather night.
Clear sky first, Kp second.
Our verdict weighs cloud at 65% and geomagnetic activity at 35%. What is Kp? · Where the cloud forecast comes from
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