Nordland, Norway
Northern lights in Bodø
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 Europe/Oslo
Storm level needed
Bodø sits at 67.28N 14.38E in Nordland, Norway. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Bodø at 66.0 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 1.3 degrees farther from the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Bodø sits at 66.0 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 Mo i Rana (108 km), Harstad (191 km), Kiruna (256 km). Mo i Rana sits 0.9 degrees lower on the dipole, Kp 1 against 0 here.
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 5 to August 6 the sun never reaches -6 degrees, so 94 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 17 to April 24 across New Year, 251 days in 2026. Bodø's longest night of the year, Dec 20, has 18 h 7 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Bodø, when the sun is lowest, falls at 23:58 on local clocks on December 15 and 01:03 on June 15. That is 2 min before midnight in December and 1 h 3 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Bodø the darkest hour sits near the middle of SWPC's 10 PM to 2 AM window in winter.
Month by month
| Month | Night | Civil | Cloud | Clear dark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16.9 h | 12.3 h | 82% | 3.1 hbest | |
| Feb | 13.8 h | 9.6 h | 83% | 2.3 h | |
| Mar | 10.3 h | 5.6 h | 82% | 1.9 h | |
| Apr | 5.9 h | 0.0 h | 80% | 1.2 h | |
| May | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 80% | 0.0 h | |
| Jun | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 78% | 0.0 h | |
| Jul | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 76% | 0.0 h | |
| Aug | 3.6 h | 0.0 h | 77% | 0.9 h | |
| Sep | 8.8 h | 2.8 h | 81% | 1.7 h | |
| Oct | 12.6 h | 8.3 h | 81% | 2.4 h | |
| Nov | 16.0 h | 11.6 h | 83% | 2.7 h | |
| Dec | 18.0 h | 13.0 h | 84% | 2.9 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Bodø with 18.0 hours of civil night and May the lightest at 0.0. Across the year Bodø gets 3,196 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Bodø, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 13.0 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Bodø at 81% across the year, from 76% in July to 84% in December. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Bodø averages 82%, against a median of 77% for Glow towns in Norway.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives January the best score, 3.1 hours, ahead of December at 2.9. Bodø's equinox months score 1.9 in March and 1.7 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
Quiet levels are enough at Bodø: 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 Europe/Oslo dates. 14 of the 30 nights at Bodø have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 6 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Bodø has 10 h 59 min of civil night, 0 min of it with the moon down.
- 2
57% lit
0.0 h
- 3
46% lit
0.0 h
- 4
35% lit
0.0 h
- 5
25% lit
4.7 h
- 6
16% lit
7.0 h
- 7
8% lit
9.0 h
- 8
3% lit
10.9 h
- 9
1% lit
11.8 h
- 10
0% lit
12.0 h
- 11
2% lit
12.1 h
- 12
5% lit
12.2 h
- 13
11% lit
12.3 h
- 14
17% lit
12.4 h
- 15
25% lit
12.6 h
- 16
34% lit
12.7 h
- 17
43% lit
12.8 h
- 18
52% lit
12.9 h
- 19
62% lit
9.4 h
- 20
71% lit
7.3 h
- 21
80% lit
5.4 h
- 22
87% lit
3.6 h
- 23
94% lit
1.8 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
0.0 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 Norway
Among the 2 Glow towns in Nordland, Bodø ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a regional median of 65.6 degrees, the highest of them. Among the 32 Glow towns in Norway, Bodø ranks 4th by dipole latitude against a national median of 59.9 degrees; Tromsø sits highest at 67.5. On December 15 Bodø gets 18.0 hours of civil night, 4th longest of 32 in Norway, where the median is 16.0.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Bodø?
- Bodø sits at 66.0 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 Bodø still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Bodø?
- Civil night, the sun at -6 degrees or lower, is missing from May 5 to Aug 6. Tonight has 10 h 59 min of it.
- What is the best month for aurora in Bodø?
- January, by civil night at Bodø times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Bodø in the dark months?
- About 82% mean cloud amount over Bodø 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 Bodø?
- 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
Bodø by month
Region and comparisons