Photo: Jonatan Pie / Unsplash
Thursday 29 October in Piteå, 16:21
Northern lights in Piteå
In Piteå the aurora can show from about Kp 4. 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 03:00 to 05:00, with 62 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like tomorrow.
Piteå and the northern lights
Piteå is a municipality in Norrbottens län, Sweden, with 42,261 inhabitants. The municipal centre lies at 65.3° N. What counts for the aurora is the magnetic latitude, 63.2° here. Here the aurora can show from about Kp 4, against Kp 6.5 in Stockholm. Activity was that high in 7% of the hours in 2014–2025.
It gets dark enough for the aurora every night except from 23 April to 18 August, with up to 15 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. Counting the darkness, that makes about 190 hours in a typical year with both darkness and enough activity, most of them in October. The clouds decide how many of them bring an aurora.
Tonight in Piteå, 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–
- 21:00100 %
- 22:00100 %
- 23:00100 %
- 00:00100 %
- 01:0098 %
- 02:0090 %
- 03:0067 %
- 04:0057 %
- 05:0036 %
The next seven nights in Piteå
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 03:00–05:0062 % cloud coverKp max 2.3
- tomorrowHigh11 hours darkBest 02:00–04:009 % cloud coverKp max 5.0
- the day after tomorrowLow11 hours darkOvercast all night100 % cloud coverKp max 4.5
- SundayLow12 hours darkBest 01:00–03:000 % cloud coverKp about 3.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- MondayLow12 hours darkBest 18:00–20:0049 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- TuesdayLow12 hours darkBest 18:00–20:0034 % cloud coverKp about 2.0Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
- WednesdayLow12 hours darkBest 00:00–02:0021 % cloud coverKp about 2.5Rough guess from NOAA’s long-range outlook
Plan a trip to Piteå
The next four weeks, night by night: activity, darkness and moon
- 30 Oct–1 NovPossible · Kp ≈ 5.0 · moon 61 %
- 16 Nov–18 NovPossible · Kp ≈ 4.0 · moon 56 %
The aurora forecast for Piteå on your website
- Tonight's aurora chance in Piteå, with the best hours
- Updates itself every hour
- Free with no sign-up: you just copy the code
- For cabins, hotels, campsites and tour operators
- In English or Norwegian, for your guests
When can you see the northern lights in Piteå?
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: October, November and December. Activity peaks around the March and September equinoxes, the nights are longest in midwinter.
- 0.5 hJan
- 0.9 hFeb
- 0.8 hMar
- 0.2 hApr
- 0 hMay
- 0 hJun
- 0 hJul
- 0 hAug
- 0.8 hSep
- 1.1 hOct
- 1.0 hNov
- 0.9 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 Piteå
Can I see the northern lights in Piteå today?
In Piteå the aurora can show from about Kp 4. 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 03:00 to 05:00, with 62 % cloud cover, so the chance is low. The best of the next seven nights looks like tomorrow.
When is the northern lights season in Piteå?
In Piteå it gets dark enough for the aurora every night except from 23 April to 18 August, with up to 15 hours of proper darkness a day in midwinter. The best months are October, November and December, going by darkness and activity in 2014–2025.
What Kp do you need to see the northern lights in Piteå?
In Piteå the aurora can show from about Kp 4, against Kp 6.5 in Stockholm. Activity was that high in 7% of the hours in 2014–2025. Counting the darkness, that makes about 190 hours in a typical year with both darkness and enough activity, most of them in October. The clouds decide how many of them bring an aurora.
When is it darkest in Piteå?
It is darkest in December, with 15 hours on average per day. The whole year by month: Jan 14 h, Feb 12 h, Mar 9 h, Apr 3 h, May 0 h, Jun 0 h, Jul 0 h, Aug 0 h, Sep 7 h, Oct 11 h, Nov 13 h, Dec 15 h.