Photo: Dylan McLeod / Unsplash
Thursday 29 October in Loppa, 15:39
Northern lights in Loppa
In Loppa 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 00:00 to 02:00, with 74 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like the day after tomorrow.
Loppa and the northern lights
Loppa is a municipality in Finnmark, Norway, with 846 inhabitants. The municipal centre lies at 70.2° N, 15 metres above sea level. What counts for the aurora is the magnetic latitude, 67.6° 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 2 September to 8 April, with up to 16 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. The polar night, when the sun does not rise, lasts from 25 November to 17 January. Counting the darkness, that makes about 1,090 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 Loppa, 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–
- 20:0093 %
- 21:0093 %
- 22:0096 %
- 23:0099 %
- 00:0084 %
- 01:0064 %
- 02:0078 %
- 03:0097 %
- 04:0098 %
- 05:0096 %
The next seven nights in Loppa
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 00:00–02:0074 % cloud coverKp max 2.3
- tomorrowModerate11 hours darkBest 18:00–20:0056 % cloud coverKp max 5.0
- the day after tomorrowHigh12 hours darkBest 01:00–03:0011 % cloud coverKp max 4.5
- SundayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night95 % cloud coverKp about 3.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- MondayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night99 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- TuesdayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night99 % cloud coverKp about 2.0Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- WednesdayLow12 hours darkOvercast all night99 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
Plan a trip to Loppa
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 Loppa on your website
- Tonight's aurora chance in Loppa, with the best hours
- Updates itself every hour
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- In English or Norwegian, for your guests
When can you see the northern lights in Loppa?
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
- 7.4 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 Loppa
Can I see the northern lights in Loppa today?
In Loppa 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 00:00 to 02:00, with 74 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like the day after tomorrow.
When is the northern lights season in Loppa?
In Loppa it gets dark enough for the aurora from 2 September to 8 April, with up to 16 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. The polar night, when the sun does not rise, lasts from 25 November to 17 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 Loppa?
In Loppa 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 1,090 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 Loppa?
It is darkest in December, with 17 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 17 h.