Norrbotten, Sweden
Northern lights in Kiruna
Answer
Tonight
Waiting on darkness
It is not civil-dark yet. The next dusk is listed below.
Observed 11:55 UTC, forecast 13:26 UTC, 91 min lead
Clock times in Europe/Stockholm
Storm level needed
Kiruna sits at 67.86N 20.23E in Norrbotten, Sweden. The IGRF-14 centered dipole puts Kiruna at 65.7 degrees geomagnetic latitude, 2.2 degrees farther from the magnetic pole than its map latitude suggests. Kiruna sits at 65.7 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 1.
"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 Harstad (184 km), Tromsø (206 km), Boden (235 km). Harstad sits 1.4 degrees higher on the dipole, Kp 0 against 1 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 3 to August 8 the sun never reaches -6 degrees, so 98 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 19 to April 23 across New Year, 248 days in 2026. Kiruna's longest night of the year, Dec 21, has 18 h 22 min of civil night.
Solar midnight at Kiruna, when the sun is lowest, falls at 23:34 on local clocks on December 15 and 00:39 on June 15. That is 26 min before midnight in December and 39 min after midnight in June, the gap set by daylight saving and the equation of time. So at Kiruna 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 | 17.1 h | 12.3 h | 76% | 4.1 hbest | |
| Feb | 13.8 h | 9.5 h | 74% | 3.6 h | |
| Mar | 10.3 h | 5.4 h | 68% | 3.3 h | |
| Apr | 5.7 h | 0.0 h | 70% | 1.7 h | |
| May | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 73% | 0.0 h | |
| Jun | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 76% | 0.0 h | |
| Jul | 0.0 h | 0.0 h | 73% | 0.0 h | |
| Aug | 3.2 h | 0.0 h | 75% | 0.8 h | |
| Sep | 8.7 h | 2.2 h | 76% | 2.1 h | |
| Oct | 12.6 h | 8.3 h | 79% | 2.6 h | |
| Nov | 16.1 h | 11.6 h | 76% | 3.9 h | |
| Dec | 18.3 h | 13.1 h | 80% | 3.7 h |
By the 15th-of-the-month sample, December is the darkest month at Kiruna with 18.3 hours of civil night and May the lightest at 0.0. Across the year Kiruna gets 3,188 hours of civil night. Astronomical night at Kiruna, the sun 18 degrees or more below the horizon, lasts 13.1 hours on December 15.
NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 all-hours climatology puts mean cloud amount for the 1 degree cell around Kiruna at 75% across the year, from 68% in March to 80% in December. In the months with at least 4 hours of civil night Kiruna averages 75%, against a median of 75% for Glow towns in Sweden.
Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky gives January the best score, 4.1 hours, ahead of November at 3.9. Kiruna's equinox months score 3.3 in March and 2.1 in September, the weeks SWPC links with larger storms.
Kp history
Quiet levels are enough at Kiruna: a 3-hour Kp of 1 or more occurred on 96% 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/Stockholm dates. 15 of the 30 nights at Kiruna have at least 2 moon-free dark hours inside 10 PM to 2 AM, and Oct 7 has the most at 4 h. Tonight Kiruna has 10 h 58 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
4.5 h
- 6
16% lit
6.9 h
- 7
8% lit
8.9 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
12.5 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
9.8 h
- 20
71% lit
7.4 h
- 21
80% lit
5.5 h
- 22
87% lit
3.7 h
- 23
94% lit
1.9 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 Sweden
Among the 4 Glow towns in Norrbotten, Kiruna ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a regional median of 63.4 degrees, the highest of them. Among the 74 Glow towns in Sweden, Kiruna ranks 1st by dipole latitude against a national median of 57.9 degrees, the highest of them. On December 15 Kiruna gets 18.3 hours of civil night, 1st longest of 74 in Sweden, where the median is 15.8.
Questions
- Can you see the northern lights in Kiruna?
- Kiruna sits at 65.7 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 1. Clear, dark sky over Kiruna still decides it.
- When is it dark enough in Kiruna?
- Civil night, the sun at -6 degrees or lower, is missing from May 3 to Aug 8. Tonight has 10 h 58 min of it.
- What is the best month for aurora in Kiruna?
- January, by civil night at Kiruna times the clear share of the sky from NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 average.
- How cloudy is Kiruna in the dark months?
- About 75% mean cloud amount over Kiruna 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 Kiruna?
- Almost always: the average oval edge is overhead at Kp 1. 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
Kiruna by month
Region and comparisons