Thursday 29 October in Alta, 15:38
Northern lights in Alta
In Alta the aurora can show from about Kp 2. Tonight's forecast is Kp 2.3, and right now it is 0.3. Tonight there are 11 hours of proper darkness. It looks best from 22:00 to 00:00, with 55 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like tomorrow.
Alta and the northern lights
Alta is a municipality in Finnmark, Norway, with 22,074 inhabitants. The municipal centre lies at 70.0° N, 60 metres above sea level. What counts for the aurora is the magnetic latitude, 67.2° here: under the auroral oval. Here the aurora can show from about Kp 2, against Kp 6 in Oslo. Activity was that high in 43% of the hours in 2014–2025.
It gets dark enough for the aurora from 1 September to 9 April, with up to 16 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. The polar night, when the sun does not rise, lasts from 26 November to 16 January. Counting the darkness, that makes about 1,080 hours in a typical year with both darkness and enough activity, most of them in December. The clouds decide how many of them bring an aurora.
Tonight in Alta, hour by hour
When it is dark enough, how cloudy it is, and the chance each hour from the Kp forecast and the cloud cover. Hours already gone have no forecast.
- 18:00–
- 19:00–
- 20:00–
- 21:0053 %
- 22:0053 %
- 23:0057 %
- 00:0071 %
- 01:0059 %
- 02:0067 %
- 03:0089 %
- 04:0092 %
- 05:0096 %
The next seven nights in Alta
Darkness, cloud and the chance for each night. The Kp forecast reaches three nights; the dashed nights after rest on NOAA’s long-range outlook and are only a pointer.
- tonightLow11 hours darkBest 22:00–00:0055 % cloud coverKp max 2.3
- tomorrowModerate11 hours darkBest 01:00–03:0064 % cloud coverKp max 5.0
- the day after tomorrowModerate11 hours darkBest 18:00–20:0062 % cloud coverKp max 4.5
- SundayLow12 hours darkBest 01:00–03:0069 % cloud coverKp about 3.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- MondayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night93 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- TuesdayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night84 % cloud coverKp about 2.0Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- WednesdayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night97 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
Plan a trip to Alta
The next four weeks, night by night: activity, darkness and moon
- 30 Oct–1 NovGood conditions · Kp ≈ 5.0 · moon 61 %
- 16 Nov–18 NovGood conditions · Kp ≈ 4.0 · moon 56 %
The aurora forecast for Alta on your website
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When can you see the northern lights in Alta?
The aurora needs both darkness and enough activity on the sun. Each column is a day: dark blue is the hours that are dark enough, green those of them when activity has been high enough here, on average 2014–2025.
Best here: December, November and January. Activity peaks around the March and September equinoxes, the nights are longest in midwinter.
- 5.8 hJan
- 5.5 hFeb
- 3.7 hMar
- 0 hApr
- 0 hMay
- 0 hJun
- 0 hJul
- 0 hAug
- 2.6 hSep
- 4.7 hOct
- 6.1 hNov
- 7.0 hDec
Clouds are left out: on average cloud cover varies little from month to month, while it decides each single night. See the forecast above.
Questions about the northern lights in Alta
Can I see the northern lights in Alta today?
In Alta the aurora can show from about Kp 2. Tonight's forecast is Kp 2.3, and right now it is 0.3. Tonight there are 11 hours of proper darkness. It looks best from 22:00 to 00:00, with 55 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like tomorrow.
When is the northern lights season in Alta?
In Alta it gets dark enough for the aurora from 1 September to 9 April, with up to 16 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. The polar night, when the sun does not rise, lasts from 26 November to 16 January. The best months are December, November and January, going by darkness and activity in 2014–2025.
What Kp do you need to see the northern lights in Alta?
In Alta the aurora can show from about Kp 2, against Kp 6 in Oslo. Activity was that high in 43% of the hours in 2014–2025. Counting the darkness, that makes about 1,080 hours in a typical year with both darkness and enough activity, most of them in December. The clouds decide how many of them bring an aurora.
When is it darkest in Alta?
It is darkest in December, with 16 hours on average per day. The whole year by month: Jan 15 h, Feb 12 h, Mar 8 h, Apr 0 h, May 0 h, Jun 0 h, Jul 0 h, Aug 0 h, Sep 5 h, Oct 10 h, Nov 14 h, Dec 16 h.