Northeast, Iceland
Northern lights in Akureyri
Answer
Tonight
Waiting on darkness
It is not civil-dark yet. The next dusk is listed below.
Observed 11:49 UTC, forecast 13:20 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in Atlantic/Reykjavik
Storm level needed
Akureyri sits at 65.68N 18.09W in Northeast, Iceland. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Akureyri at 69.7 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 4.0 degrees closer to the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Akureyri sits at 69.7 degrees geomagnetic, inside SWPC's 60 to 75 degree band, where aurora can be seen on more than half of all nights. No storm is needed: by SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 0.
"The best place to observe the aurora is under an oval shaped region between the north and south latitudes of about 60 and 75 degrees. At these polar latitudes, the aurora can be observed more than half of the nights of a given year."
The nearest other Glow towns are Reykjavík (249 km), Hafnarfjörður (256 km), Reykjanesbær (282 km). Reykjavík sits 0.9 degrees lower on the dipole and needs the same Kp.
Approximate: SWPC calls its Kp to latitude rule an average, and a centered dipole can differ by a degree from fuller field models. How the storm level is matched
The year in darkness
From May 10 to July 31 the sun never reaches -6 degrees, so 83 nights in 2026 have no civil darkness at all. SWPC puts it plainly: "It must also be dark so during the summer months at auroral latitudes, the midnight sun prevents auroral observations." Glow's dark season, at least 4 hours of civil night between 18:00 and 06:00, runs from August 12 to April 29 across New Year, 261 days in 2026. Akureyri's longest night of the year, Dec 19, has 17 h 31 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Akureyri, when the sun is lowest, falls at 01:07 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:13 on June 15. That is 1 h 7 min after midnight in December and 1 h 13 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Akureyri the darkest hour sits late in SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16.5 h | 12.2 h | 82% | 3.0 h | |
| Feb | 13.6 h | 9.7 h | 83% | 2.3 h | |
| Mar | 10.4 h | 6.1 h | 84% | 1.7 h | |
| Apr | 6.4 h | 0.0 h | 83% | 1.1 h | |
| May | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 83% | 0.0 h | |
| Jun | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 80% | 0.0 h | |
| Jul | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 85% | 0.0 h | |
| Aug | 4.6 h | 0.0 h | 82% | 0.8 h | |
| Sep | 9.0 h | 3.9 h | 83% | 1.5 h | |
| Oct | 12.5 h | 8.6 h | 83% | 2.1 h | |
| Nov | 15.7 h | 11.5 h | 81% | 3.0 h | |
| Dec | 17.5 h | 12.9 h | 81% | 3.3 hbest |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Akureyri with 17.5 hours of civil night and May the lightest at 0.0. Across the year Akureyri gets 3,225 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Akureyri, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 12.9 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Akureyri at 82% across the year, from 80% in June to 85% in July. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Akureyri averages 82%, against a median of 81% for Glow towns in Iceland.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives December the best score, 3.3 hours, ahead of November at 3.0. Akureyri's equinox months score 1.7 in March and 1.5 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
Quiet levels are enough at Akureyri: a 3-hour Kp of 0 or more occurred on 100% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ Potsdam record. The days that matter are storm days, Kp 5 or more: 10% of all days, most often in September.
Share of UTC days in each calendar month whose highest 3-hour Kp reached Kp 5. Kp history by year
Moon, next 30 nights
Over the 30 nights from Oct 2, the new moon falls on Oct 10 and the full moon on Oct 26, in Atlantic/Reykjavik dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Akureyri have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 6 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Akureyri has 11 h 3 min of civil night, 0 min of it with the moon down.
- 2
57% lit
0.0 h
- 3
45% lit
0.0 h
- 4
34% lit
2.8 h
- 5
24% lit
5.2 h
- 6
15% lit
7.3 h
- 7
8% lit
9.3 h
- 8
3% lit
11.1 h
- 9
1% lit
11.8 h
- 10
0% lit
11.9 h
- 11
2% lit
12.1 h
- 12
6% lit
12.2 h
- 13
11% lit
12.3 h
- 14
18% lit
12.4 h
- 15
26% lit
12.5 h
- 16
35% lit
12.6 h
- 17
44% lit
12.7 h
- 18
53% lit
11.1 h
- 19
63% lit
8.7 h
- 20
72% lit
6.8 h
- 21
80% lit
5.1 h
- 22
88% lit
3.4 h
- 23
94% lit
1.7 h
- 24
98% lit
0.0 h
- 25
100% lit
0.0 h
- 26
99% lit
0.0 h
- 27
95% lit
0.0 h
- 28
89% lit
0.0 h
- 29
81% lit
0.0 h
- 30
71% lit
0.0 h
- 31
60% lit
1.7 h
Each cell is the night that starts on that date. Hours are civil-dark time with the moon below the horizon; the green rule scales with them. Green outline: new moon. Bone outline: full moon.
Within Iceland
Among the 4 Glow towns in Iceland, Akureyri ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a national median of 68.8 degrees, the highest of them. On December 15 Akureyri gets 17.5 hours of civil night, 1st longest of 4 in Iceland, where the median is 17.0.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Akureyri?
- Akureyri sits at 69.7 degrees geomagnetic, inside SWPC's 60 to 75 degree band, where aurora can be seen on more than half of all nights. No storm is needed: by SWPC's rule the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 0. Clear, dark sky over Akureyri still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Akureyri?
- Civil night, the sun at -6 degrees or lower, is missing from May 10 to Jul 31. Tonight has 11 h 3 min of it.
- What is the best month for aurora in Akureyri?
- December, by civil night at Akureyri times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Akureyri in the dark months?
- About 82% mean cloud amount over Akureyri in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night, from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology.
- How often is activity high enough for Akureyri?
- Almost always: the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 0. Storm days, Kp 5 or more, made up 10% of days from 1996 to 2025 in the GFZ record.
Nearby and related
Nearest Glow towns
Akureyri by month
Region and comparisons