Best time to see the Northern Lights
TIME OF YEAR
As mentioned previously, you need darkness to see the aurora. Keep in mind that summer at northern latitudes means continuous daylight and/or short and not-so-dark nights. Trust us, you need to go in the winter.
The main season for the Northern Lights is between September and April. Since the aurora takes place in the upper atmosphere (80-100 km), you also need clear skies. Take into account weather patterns for your selected location when choosing a date; e.g. October is historically the wettest month in Tromso, so I’d skip that (weather conditions were discussed in our previous chapter).
Our recommendation: you usually can’t go wrong with either January or February, so try to plan for this period. Obviously, you will need to take into account other factors related to the aurora (i.e. weather) or to your personal circumstances.
THE MOON
The Moon is nice, but it will affect your Northern Lights experience. While a full Moon will not cancel the show, the darker the general conditions, the better. You do not want the Moon interfering with the lights. Get a Moon phases calendar and aim for a new Moon or a time close to it (or at least avoid a full moon and times close to it).
TIME OF DAY
Well, that's easy. It has to be night time, but don’t wait too long. The show may start as early as 7:00 or 8:00 PM. Intensity may peak around 9:00 – 10:00 PM and the show will continue towards midnight. On a good night it’s not uncommon for the show to go on until 5:00 AM (on and off). While the aurora is a continuous phenomenon, its intentisy varies; low or very low intensity may mean you get to see nothing or almost nothing.
Our recommendation: As patterns shift continuously and might come and go over the course of one night, better start your hunt early (i.e. 8:00 PM). You can use some of the resources presented later in this guide to time your hunt. Most organized tours start early as well, around 6:30 – 7:00 PM.
DURATION
How long will your trip be? Don’t drop by for one day and hope for the best. There are stories of unfortunate persons trying to see the lights on three different trips with no success, due to poor preparation, short trips or just plain old bad luck.
You can control many of the conditions presented here such as location, date or lighting. But you can’t control weather. Forecasts aren’t accurate when you need to book plane tickets and tours months in advance.
Our recommendation: The minimum recommended stay in a good viewing location is five nights (and you need to go aurora hunting every night or at least until you satisfactorily see it). Less than four nights would be tempting the odds. Also, the further you are from a good location the lower the odds and the longer you should stay.
Once you've decided on the duration of your trip, you also need to decide how long you'll spend hunting for the aurora each night. Since intensity and weather conditions vary and may change rapidly, you will need to spend hours waiting for the right conditions (or enjoying the show, if everything goes right). A minimum of 4-5 hours per night is recommended (be extra careful to wear the right clothing, spending hours at a time in freezing cold with minimum physical activity will be challenging for most people; check out our Logistics chapter for details).
Keep reading! Our next chapter discusses The preparations and logistics for seeing the Northern Lights.
