Northern lights

Kiruna is the best place in the world to experience the northern lights. The darkness, its northern location within the Aurora oval and the blue hole mean that this light phenomenon can be seen more often and more clearly than anywhere else. When the northern lights dance, we stop and look up at the sky. It is difficult to resist its seductive power, even for those who grew up here and have seen the natural phenomenon since childhood. Read our guide and experience the magical light where the chances are greatest.

Best time to see northern lights in Kiruna

Kiruna’s location within the northern polar aurora oval offers fantastic opportunities to see the Northern Lights from September to March. You can often see the Northern Lights as early as the end of August and as late as April. During September, October and March, we usually see the strongest and most vivid Northern Lights.

The timing of the Northern Lights varies depending on how early darkness falls. The Northern Lights are always present in the sky, even during the day, but it is too light to see them. Therefore, you have the chance to see the Northern Lights as soon as it gets dark enough outside and the weather is reasonably clear. During the winter season, you can often see the Northern Lights as early as 4 p.m.

In Scandinavia, the most active Northern Lights usually appear between 9 and 11 p.m. It is very important to look often, as the most intense part of the Northern Lights often lasts less than ten minutes. Active Northern Lights can be seen almost every evening during the dark season.

Conditions for the Northern Lights and how to maximise your chances

The Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon, and there is no guarantee that they will appear. Several natural factors need to fall into place for the Northern Lights to be visible. When you are in Kiruna the most important factors for success are darkness, clear skies and solar activity.

We have plenty of darkness, and we are far enough north that even minimal solar activity is enough for us to see the Northern Lights. Therefore, the weather is the most unreliable factor to keep track of. There are measures you should take yourself to give yourself the best possible conditions for hunting the Northern Lights.

• Darkness – Start looking as soon as it gets dark outside. Go to a dark place far away from artificial light. Don’t underestimate your own night vision! Turn off the lights and don’t use your mobile phone. After about 20 minutes, you will be almost as good as an owl. A head torch with red light is good to use if you need a light source.
• Clear skies – Clouds are at a lower level than the Northern Lights and therefore block your view. But sometimes all you need is a few patches of clear sky for lady Aurora to peek through. Keeping an eye on the weather prognosis is therefore important, but keep in mind that we have a subarctic climate up here, which means that the weather can change very quickly. It can go from starry skies to snowfall before you’ve even had time to put on all your clothes.
• Solar activity – To see the Northern Lights, the sun must emit solar storms with particles that hook into our magnetic field. Stronger solar storms (geomagnetic storms) produce more spectacular Northern Lights! A Northern Lights forecast helps you predict the chances of seeing the Northern Lights.

Aurora forecasts

Many people who use northern lights forecasts look at the KP index, a measurement of geomagnetic activity that indicates the strength and visibility of the northern lights. The higher the value, the further south it is visible. Kiruna is located far north at a latitude of approximately 68 degrees, which means that we can see the northern lights here even at lower KP values. Geomagnetic storms (G0-G5) that give us the spectacular northern lights start from a KP value of 5 and above. Below you can see how the KP value can be interpreted in relation to the probability of seeing the northern lights in the municipality of Kiruna.

• KP 0-1 (G0): Low probability. Usually not visible to the naked eye.
• KP 2-3 (G0): Visible. From faint green glows to green arcs across the horizon.
• KP 4 (G0): Active. Lots of movement with other visible colours.
• KP 5-9 (G1-G5): Spectacular! Expect a truly impressive spectacle!

Will there be northern lights tonight?

• Aurora Forecast Alaska | Website
• Spaceweather Live | Website | App Store | Google Play
• My Aurora Forecast | App Store | Google Play
• IRF Aurora Alert | App Store | Google Play

Preparing for your own Northern Lights hunt

Looking for the Northern Lights isn’t always a walk in the park. It can be a long wait, sitting still in the dark and cold night. The Northern Lights show up when they want to, and you need to be patient, stay positive, and pack the right stuff. So don’t give up after just five minutes; every minute in the dark gives you a chance to see the Northern Lights.

8 things to pack for a more enjoyable Northern Lights evening

1. Seat pad or reindeer skin. Snow and ice are too cold to sit on directly.
2. Warm clothes and shoes. Follow the layer upon layer principle.
3. Reflectors. You need to be visible for your own safety and that of others.
4. Snacks and hot drinks. To keep your spirit and energy levels high.
5. Headlamp. Useful when navigating in the dark. A red light is recommended.
6. Camera and tripod. For those interested in photography.
7. Extra batteries/power bank. Cold weather drains batteries faster than you think.
8. Hand warmers. For that extra boost of warmth when you need it.

Recommended viewing locations

The proximity to nature in Kiruna makes it easy to get to a place that is free from artificial light and see both the Northern Lights and stars in the dark night sky. In central Kiruna, you can sometimes see the Northern Lights, but it is better to move a little further away to get away from the worst light pollution. Camp Ripan is a good location within Kiruna city. They have installed specially adapted street lamps with downward-angled screens so that the northern lights are more visible in the sky. The city mountain Luossavaara offers excellent opportunities to see the northern lights dancing across the mountains. Walk a little way beyond the hill, past the car park, for the best view.

Many know Abisko as a great place to see the Northern Lights, and Lonely Planet has named the village the best place in the world for light experiences. Its location within the Northern Lights oval, minimal light pollution, clear and clean air, combined with the local weather effect known as the “blue hole” create optimal conditions for Northern Lights experiences. But you don’t have to go all the way there to see the Northern Lights. Kiruna municipality is large, with a plethora of dark places from which to view the phenomenon. We have compiled a map of some recommended places to view the Northern Lights.

Myths and legends

The beautiful, different coloured lights that you can see dancing across the sky in the northern parts of the world are known as the northern lights. Their Latin name, aurora borealis, came into use back in the 17th century. Aurora was the goddess of the dawn in ancient Roman mythology, and Borealis means “northerly”. So the name actually means “northerly dawn” or “northerly light of dawn”. The northern Sámi name for the northern lights, guovsahas, is also linked with the light of dawn.

Since ancient times people has been amazed by the northern lights and tried to relate to it through myths and legends. Among the Sámi, it was important to meet the northern lights with reverence. Whistling or to joik (Sámi singing) disrespectfully under northern lights could be dangerous! A belief common to many indigenous peoples in northern Europe, America and Asia is that the northern lights were the place where the dead resided, but only those who died a violent or premature death were welcome to the northern lights. Some made sure their kids wore hats outside so that the lights could not burn their hair. The Sámi also believed that northern lights and weather had a connection. They believed that you could change the weather by changing the northern lights, including a chant that started “gokseth lipi, lipi”. Lipi is an abbreviation of the word lihphuit meaning fluttering.

The imaginative stories around the northern lights are many and entertaining, but today we know a lot more about how the northern lights occur.

What are the northern lights?

The northern lights are created by a combination of the sun, the atmosphere and magnetic fields. The magnetosphere captures and redirects particles of energy from the sun, and the beautiful light and colours of the northern lights are created when these come into contact with oxygen and nitrogen. The Earth is surrounded by magnetic field lines, and high-energy particles from the sun are dragged down towards the Earth when they’re captured by these lines. They then follow the field lines down through the upper atmosphere, at altitudes of 80–300 kilometres, and collide with oxygen and nitrogen. This collision shifts the energy temporarily and converts it into light. So the visible lines of the magnetic field create the curtain of colours that we see in the northern lights.