Can you see the northern lights in Ålesund in November?

On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Ålesund have civil darkness, and 74% of past November days reached Kp 2.

How dark is Ålesund in November?

Ålesund averages 15.1 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 13 h 56 min on the 1st to 16 h 2 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Ålesund in November?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Ålesund's 1 degree cell 84% mean cloud in November, against 83% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

What is the best night in November 2026 for aurora in Ålesund?

By darkness and moon alone, Nov 4, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Ålesund. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.

Is November or December better in Ålesund?

By civil night times the clear share, November scores 2.4 hours at Ålesund and December 2.7. December comes out ahead.

Ålesund · November 2026

Northern lights in Ålesund in November 2026

Answer

November gives Ålesund 15.1 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 3rd darkest of its 12 months, under 84% mean cloud. 74% of November days since 1996 reached Kp 2, enough for the oval edge to reach Ålesund.

15.1 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 62.47, 6.15; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

November against the rest of the year

2.4

2.0

1.7

1.3

0.6

0.0

1.0

1.7

2.2

2.4

2.7

November cloud at Ålesund averages 84% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, close to its yearly mean of 83%. April is Ålesund's clearest month at 82%. By civil night times clear sky, November scores 2.4 hours at Ålesund, 2nd of 12. Molde, 59 km away, averages the same 84%.

Civil night at Ålesund starts November at 13 h 56 min and reaches 16 h 2 min by November 30 as the nights lengthen by 2.1 hours. SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on every night. True astronomical darkness, the sun 18 degrees down, lasts 11.4 hours on the 15th.

November night by night

November opens toward a new moon on Nov 9, with full moon on Nov 24, in Europe/Oslo dates. Ålesund gets 235 hours of civil night with the moon below the horizon across the month. The best of them for moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM: Nov 4 (4 h), Nov 5 (4 h), Nov 6 (4 h).

1
49% lit
4.6 h
2
38% lit
6.5 h
3
28% lit
8.2 h
4
19% lit
9.9 h
5
11% lit
11.5 h
6
6% lit
13.2 h
7
2% lit
14.4 h
8
0% lit
14.5 h
9
1% lit
14.6 h
New
10
3% lit
14.7 h
11
7% lit
14.8 h
12
12% lit
14.8 h
13
19% lit
14.9 h
14
27% lit
13.3 h
15
36% lit
11.7 h
16
45% lit
10.1 h
17
55% lit
8.5 h
18
65% lit
7.0 h
19
74% lit
5.5 h
20
83% lit
3.9 h
21
90% lit
2.1 h
22
96% lit
0.3 h
23
99% lit
0.0 h
24
100% lit
0.0 h
Full
25
97% lit
0.0 h
26
92% lit
0.0 h
27
84% lit
1.0 h
28
75% lit
3.1 h
29
64% lit
5.1 h
30
53% lit
6.8 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.

Activity in past Novembers

Ålesund needs Kp 2 for the average oval edge to sit overhead. 670 of the 900 November days from 1996 to 2025 (74%) reached it in the GFZ Potsdam record, 8th of 12 months; storm days with Kp 5 or more made up 10%. Ålesund sits at 62.8 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 2.

November across Norway

Ålesund ranks 10th in Norway for civil night on November 15, behind Alta at 16.7 hours. Coming from October (12.4 hours at Ålesund), November adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into December (16.6 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on November 15 and November cloud, month-page towns in Norway
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Alta	16.7 h	81%
Tromsø	16.6 h	84%
Harstad	16.4 h	82%
Bodø	16.0 h	83%
Mo i Rana	15.8 h	79%
Levanger	15.3 h	82%
Trondheim	15.2 h	82%
Kristiansund	15.2 h	82%
Stjørdalshalsen	15.2 h	82%
Ålesund	15.1 h	84%
Molde	15.1 h	84%
Lillehammer	14.9 h	77%

Darkness and moon, every night

Ålesund, November 2026: each night from local noon to the next noon
Night	Civil	Astronomical	Moon-free dark	Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM	Moon lit
Sun Nov 1	13 h 56 min	10 h 25 min	4 h 37 min	0 min	49%
Mon Nov 2	14 h 1 min	10 h 29 min	6 h 30 min	1 h 49 min	38%
Tue Nov 3	14 h 6 min	10 h 34 min	8 h 14 min	3 h 31 min	28%
Wed Nov 4	14 h 11 min	10 h 39 min	9 h 54 min	4 h	19%
Thu Nov 5	14 h 16 min	10 h 43 min	11 h 32 min	4 h	11%
Fri Nov 6	14 h 21 min	10 h 48 min	13 h 11 min	4 h	6%
Sat Nov 7	14 h 26 min	10 h 52 min	14 h 26 min	4 h	2%
Sun Nov 8	14 h 31 min	10 h 57 min	14 h 31 min	4 h	0%
Mon Nov 9	14 h 36 min	11 h 1 min	14 h 36 min	4 h	1%
Tue Nov 10	14 h 41 min	11 h 5 min	14 h 41 min	4 h	3%
Wed Nov 11	14 h 46 min	11 h 9 min	14 h 46 min	4 h	7%
Thu Nov 12	14 h 50 min	11 h 14 min	14 h 50 min	4 h	12%
Fri Nov 13	14 h 55 min	11 h 18 min	14 h 55 min	4 h	19%
Sat Nov 14	15 h	11 h 22 min	13 h 21 min	4 h	27%
Sun Nov 15	15 h 4 min	11 h 25 min	11 h 39 min	4 h	36%
Mon Nov 16	15 h 8 min	11 h 29 min	10 h 3 min	4 h	45%
Tue Nov 17	15 h 13 min	11 h 33 min	8 h 30 min	2 h 33 min	55%
Wed Nov 18	15 h 17 min	11 h 36 min	7 h	1 h	65%
Thu Nov 19	15 h 21 min	11 h 40 min	5 h 28 min	0 min	74%
Fri Nov 20	15 h 26 min	11 h 43 min	3 h 52 min	0 min	83%
Sat Nov 21	15 h 30 min	11 h 47 min	2 h 9 min	0 min	90%
Sun Nov 22	15 h 34 min	11 h 50 min	15 min	0 min	96%
Mon Nov 23	15 h 37 min	11 h 53 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Tue Nov 24	15 h 41 min	11 h 56 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Wed Nov 25	15 h 45 min	11 h 59 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Thu Nov 26	15 h 49 min	12 h 2 min	0 min	0 min	92%
Fri Nov 27	15 h 52 min	12 h 5 min	58 min	0 min	84%
Sat Nov 28	15 h 55 min	12 h 8 min	3 h 6 min	0 min	75%
Sun Nov 29	15 h 59 min	12 h 10 min	5 h 4 min	0 min	64%
Mon Nov 30	16 h 2 min	12 h 13 min	6 h 51 min	1 h 15 min	53%

Moon lit: SunCalc illuminated fraction at the middle of the 10 PM to 2 AM window.

Questions

Can you see the northern lights in Ålesund in November?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Ålesund have civil darkness, and 74% of past November days reached Kp 2.
How dark is Ålesund in November?: Ålesund averages 15.1 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 13 h 56 min on the 1st to 16 h 2 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Ålesund in November?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Ålesund's 1 degree cell 84% mean cloud in November, against 83% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in November 2026 for aurora in Ålesund?: By darkness and moon alone, Nov 4, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Ålesund. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is November or December better in Ålesund?: By civil night times the clear share, November scores 2.4 hours at Ålesund and December 2.7. December comes out ahead.

Sources and verification

SunCalchttps://github.com/mourner/suncalc
NASA POWER climatologyhttps://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/climatology/
GFZ Potsdam Kp indexhttps://kp.gfz.de/en/data
NOAA SWPC, Tips on viewing the aurorahttps://www.spaceweather.gov/content/tips-viewing-aurora

Quoted figures last checked against their sources on 2026-09-30; next review 2026-12-31. Computed figures come from SunCalc and the IGRF-14 dipole as described in the methodology. Every quote is listed in the sources ledger.