Can you see the northern lights in Östersund in November?

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

How dark is Östersund in November?

Östersund averages 15.2 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 14 h on the 1st to 16 h 11 min on the last night.

How cloudy is Östersund in November?

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Östersund's 1 degree cell 79% mean cloud in November, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.

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

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

Is November or December better in Östersund?

By civil night times the clear share, November scores 3.2 hours at Östersund and December 4.2. December comes out ahead.

Östersund · November 2026

Northern lights in Östersund in November 2026

Answer

November gives Östersund 15.2 hours of civil night on the 15th, the 3rd darkest of its 12 months, under 79% mean cloud. 74% of November days since 1996 reached Kp 2, enough for the oval edge to reach Östersund.

15.2 h

civil night, average night

SunCalc for 63.18, 14.64; NASA POWER; GFZ Kp

November against the rest of the year

3.3

3.2

3.0

2.1

0.7

0.0

1.6

2.4

3.0

3.2

4.2

November cloud at Östersund averages 79% in NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 record, 5 points cloudier than its yearly mean. April is Östersund's clearest month at 71%. By civil night times clear sky, November scores 3.2 hours at Östersund, 4th of 12. Sundsvall, 162 km away, averages 75%, clearer by 4 points.

Civil night at Östersund starts November at 14 h and reaches 16 h 11 min by November 30 as the nights lengthen by 2.2 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/Stockholm dates. Östersund gets 236 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
4.5 h
2
38% lit
6.4 h
3
28% lit
8.2 h
4
19% lit
9.9 h
5
11% lit
11.6 h
6
6% lit
13.3 h
7
2% lit
14.5 h
8
0% lit
14.6 h
9
1% lit
14.7 h
New
10
3% lit
14.8 h
11
7% lit
14.9 h
12
12% lit
14.9 h
13
19% lit
15.0 h
14
27% lit
13.7 h
15
36% lit
11.9 h
16
45% lit
10.2 h
17
55% lit
8.7 h
18
65% lit
7.1 h
19
74% lit
5.6 h
20
83% lit
4.0 h
21
90% lit
2.2 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
0.7 h
28
75% lit
3.0 h
29
64% lit
5.0 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

Östersund 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%. Östersund sits at 62.2 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 2.

November across Sweden

Östersund ranks 7th in Sweden for civil night on November 15, behind Kiruna at 16.1 hours. Coming from October (12.4 hours at Östersund), November adds darkness, and the nights keep growing into December (16.7 hours on the 15th).

Civil night on November 15 and November cloud, month-page towns in Sweden
Town	Civil night	Cloud
Kiruna	16.1 h	76%
Boden	15.7 h	74%
Luleå	15.6 h	79%
Piteå	15.6 h	74%
Skellefteå	15.5 h	76%
Umeå	15.3 h	82%
Östersund	15.2 h	79%
Örnsköldsvik	15.2 h	75%
Sundsvall	15.1 h	75%
Härnösand	15.1 h	75%
Hudiksvall	15.0 h	76%
Uppsala	14.7 h	80%

Darkness and moon, every night

Östersund, 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	14 h	10 h 24 min	4 h 30 min	0 min	49%
Mon Nov 2	14 h 5 min	10 h 29 min	6 h 26 min	1 h 9 min	38%
Tue Nov 3	14 h 11 min	10 h 33 min	8 h 13 min	2 h 53 min	28%
Wed Nov 4	14 h 16 min	10 h 38 min	9 h 54 min	4 h	19%
Thu Nov 5	14 h 21 min	10 h 43 min	11 h 34 min	4 h	11%
Fri Nov 6	14 h 26 min	10 h 48 min	13 h 15 min	4 h	6%
Sat Nov 7	14 h 32 min	10 h 52 min	14 h 32 min	4 h	2%
Sun Nov 8	14 h 37 min	10 h 57 min	14 h 37 min	4 h	0%
Mon Nov 9	14 h 42 min	11 h 1 min	14 h 42 min	4 h	1%
Tue Nov 10	14 h 47 min	11 h 6 min	14 h 47 min	4 h	3%
Wed Nov 11	14 h 52 min	11 h 10 min	14 h 52 min	4 h	7%
Thu Nov 12	14 h 57 min	11 h 14 min	14 h 57 min	4 h	12%
Fri Nov 13	15 h 1 min	11 h 18 min	15 h 1 min	4 h	19%
Sat Nov 14	15 h 6 min	11 h 22 min	13 h 43 min	4 h	27%
Sun Nov 15	15 h 11 min	11 h 26 min	11 h 53 min	4 h	36%
Mon Nov 16	15 h 15 min	11 h 30 min	10 h 14 min	4 h	45%
Tue Nov 17	15 h 20 min	11 h 34 min	8 h 39 min	3 h 12 min	55%
Wed Nov 18	15 h 24 min	11 h 38 min	7 h 7 min	1 h 38 min	65%
Thu Nov 19	15 h 29 min	11 h 41 min	5 h 34 min	2 min	74%
Fri Nov 20	15 h 33 min	11 h 45 min	3 h 57 min	0 min	83%
Sat Nov 21	15 h 37 min	11 h 48 min	2 h 11 min	0 min	90%
Sun Nov 22	15 h 41 min	11 h 52 min	15 min	0 min	96%
Mon Nov 23	15 h 46 min	11 h 55 min	0 min	0 min	99%
Tue Nov 24	15 h 49 min	11 h 58 min	0 min	0 min	100%
Wed Nov 25	15 h 53 min	12 h 1 min	0 min	0 min	97%
Thu Nov 26	15 h 57 min	12 h 4 min	0 min	0 min	92%
Fri Nov 27	16 h 1 min	12 h 7 min	44 min	0 min	84%
Sat Nov 28	16 h 4 min	12 h 10 min	3 h	0 min	75%
Sun Nov 29	16 h 8 min	12 h 13 min	5 h 1 min	0 min	64%
Mon Nov 30	16 h 11 min	12 h 15 min	6 h 51 min	36 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 Östersund in November?: On dark, clear nights with enough activity. 30 of 30 nights at Östersund have civil darkness, and 74% of past November days reached Kp 2.
How dark is Östersund in November?: Östersund averages 15.2 hours of civil night a night in November 2026, from 14 h on the 1st to 16 h 11 min on the last night.
How cloudy is Östersund in November?: NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology gives Östersund's 1 degree cell 79% mean cloud in November, against 74% for the whole year. It is an all-hours average, not a forecast.
What is the best night in November 2026 for aurora in Östersund?: By darkness and moon alone, Nov 4, with 4 h of moon-free darkness inside 10 PM to 2 AM at Östersund. Activity on that date will only be known hours ahead.
Is November or December better in Östersund?: By civil night times the clear share, November scores 3.2 hours at Östersund and December 4.2. 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.