Alta · April 2027
Northern lights in Alta in April 2027
Answer
April against the rest of the year
April cloud at Alta averages 76% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 4 points clearer than its yearly mean. No month at Alta is clearer. By civil night times clear sky, April scores 1.1 hours at Alta, 8th of 12. Tromsø, 169 km away, averages 81%, cloudier by 5 points.
Civil night at Alta starts April at 7 h 29 min and reaches 0 min by April 30, 7.5 hours shorter. 5 Alta nights this month have no civil darkness at all. The 10 PM to 2 AM window is fully dark on 14 of 30 nights. The sun never reaches 18 degrees down, so Alta gets no astronomical night in April.
April night by night
April opens toward a new moon on Apr 7, with full moon on Apr 21, in Europe/Oslo dates. Alta gets 59 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: Apr 1 (4 h), Apr 2 (4 h), Apr 3 (4 h).
- 1
24% lit
7.5 h
- 2
16% lit
7.3 h
- 3
10% lit
7.1 h
- 4
5% lit
7.0 h
- 5
1% lit
6.8 h
- 6
0% lit
6.6 h
- 7
1% lit
5.5 h
- 8
5% lit
0.0 h
- 9
10% lit
0.0 h
- 10
18% lit
0.0 h
- 11
28% lit
0.0 h
- 12
38% lit
0.0 h
- 13
50% lit
0.0 h
- 14
61% lit
0.0 h
- 15
72% lit
0.0 h
- 16
81% lit
0.0 h
- 17
89% lit
0.0 h
- 18
95% lit
0.0 h
- 19
99% lit
0.0 h
- 20
100% lit
0.0 h
- 21
99% lit
3.0 h
- 22
96% lit
2.7 h
- 23
91% lit
2.3 h
- 24
84% lit
1.8 h
- 25
76% lit
1.1 h
- 26
68% lit
no night
- 27
59% lit
no night
- 28
49% lit
no night
- 29
40% lit
no night
- 30
31% lit
no night
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 Aprils
Quiet activity already puts the oval edge over Alta, so storm days matter more: 106 of the 900 April days from 1996 to 2025 (12%) reached Kp 5, 4th of 12 months. Alta sits at 67.2 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.
April across Norway
Alta ranks 20th in Norway for civil night on April 15, behind Kristiansand at 8.0 hours. Coming from March (10.1 hours at Alta), April loses darkness, and May brings shorter nights (0.0 hours on the 15th).
| Town | Civil night | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Kristiansand | 8.0 h | 74% |
| Stavanger | 7.9 h | 74% |
| Haugesund | 7.8 h | 74% |
| Oslo | 7.7 h | 70% |
| Drammen | 7.7 h | 70% |
| Bergen | 7.6 h | 72% |
| Hamar | 7.5 h | 66% |
| Lillehammer | 7.5 h | 70% |
| Gjøvik | 7.5 h | 66% |
| Ålesund | 7.2 h | 82% |
| Kristiansund | 7.1 h | 73% |
| Molde | 7.1 h | 82% |
| Alta | 4.7 h | 76% |
Darkness and moon, every night
| Night | Civil | Astronomical | Moon-free dark | Moon-free, 10 PM to 2 AM | Moon lit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Apr 1 | 7 h 29 min | 0 min | 7 h 29 min | 4 h | 24% |
| Fri Apr 2 | 7 h 18 min | 0 min | 7 h 18 min | 4 h | 16% |
| Sat Apr 3 | 7 h 8 min | 0 min | 7 h 8 min | 4 h | 10% |
| Sun Apr 4 | 6 h 57 min | 0 min | 6 h 57 min | 4 h | 5% |
| Mon Apr 5 | 6 h 46 min | 0 min | 6 h 46 min | 4 h | 1% |
| Tue Apr 6 | 6 h 35 min | 0 min | 6 h 35 min | 4 h | 0% |
| Wed Apr 7 | 6 h 24 min | 0 min | 5 h 33 min | 3 h 53 min | 1% |
| Thu Apr 8 | 6 h 12 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 5% |
| Fri Apr 9 | 6 h | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 10% |
| Sat Apr 10 | 5 h 48 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 18% |
| Sun Apr 11 | 5 h 36 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 28% |
| Mon Apr 12 | 5 h 23 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 38% |
| Tue Apr 13 | 5 h 10 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 50% |
| Wed Apr 14 | 4 h 57 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 61% |
| Thu Apr 15 | 4 h 43 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 72% |
| Fri Apr 16 | 4 h 28 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 81% |
| Sat Apr 17 | 4 h 13 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 89% |
| Sun Apr 18 | 3 h 57 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 95% |
| Mon Apr 19 | 3 h 40 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 99% |
| Tue Apr 20 | 3 h 22 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 100% |
| Wed Apr 21 | 3 h 3 min | 0 min | 3 h 3 min | 3 h 3 min | 99% |
| Thu Apr 22 | 2 h 41 min | 0 min | 2 h 41 min | 2 h 41 min | 96% |
| Fri Apr 23 | 2 h 17 min | 0 min | 2 h 17 min | 2 h 17 min | 91% |
| Sat Apr 24 | 1 h 47 min | 0 min | 1 h 47 min | 1 h 47 min | 84% |
| Sun Apr 25 | 1 h 5 min | 0 min | 1 h 5 min | 1 h 5 min | 76% |
| Mon Apr 26 | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 68% |
| Tue Apr 27 | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 59% |
| Wed Apr 28 | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 49% |
| Thu Apr 29 | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 40% |
| Fri Apr 30 | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 0 min | 31% |
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Alta in April?
- On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 25 of 30 nights at Alta have civil darkness, and 12% of past April days reached Kp 5.
- How dark is Alta in April?
- Alta averages 4.1 hours of civil night a night in April 2027, from 7 h 29 min on the 1st to 0 min on the last night.
- How cloudy is Alta in April?
- NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Alta's 1 degree cell 76% mean cloud in April, against 80% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
- What is the best night in April 2027 for aurora in Alta?
- By darkness and moon alone, Apr 1, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Alta. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
- Is April or May better in Alta?
- By civil night times the clear share, April scores 1.1 hours at Alta and May 0.0. April 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.