Aurora Borealis in Sermersooq

Greenland · 64.18°, -51.72° · geomagnetic 72.6° · needs Kp 3

Tonight in Sermersooq

23%

Peak chance of a visible display tonight, from the same model the Revon app runs. Sermersooq needs Kp 3, and tonight the forecast peaks at Kp 3.3. That is on the threshold rather than over it, so cloud and moonlight will decide the night.

Tonight Sun 09 Aug

23%

Get the full 30-night forecast in Revon

Updated 2026-08-09 18:23 UTC

How often the aurora borealis reaches Sermersooq

113.3 nights a year, averaged across 10.0 years of records

Storm level	Nights / year
Kp 4	83.4
Kp 5	28.7
Kp 6	9.3
Kp 7	3.2
Kp 8	1.2

NOAA planetary Kp, 2016-04-02 to 2026-03-30

You are inside the auroral oval

Sermersooq sits far enough northern that quiet conditions are enough. What limits you here is cloud and moonlight, not geomagnetic activity.

Hours of true darkness, month by month

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
12.3	10.1	6.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.1	9.1	11.8	12.9

Solar declination and hour angle at −18°

Nothing to see from April to August

Through those months the sun never falls more than 18° below the Sermersooq horizon, so the sky never darkens fully. Plan around the darker half of the year.

Getting clear of the light

Sermersooq is small enough that its own lights are a minor problem — the centre reads Bortle 2. Walking to the edge of town is often escape enough.

8 km north — around Nuuk → Bortle 2
8 km north — around Nuuk → Bortle 2

Falchi 2016 World Atlas (DOI: 10.5880/GFZ.1.4.2016.001)

The months that actually deliver

Counting only nights that were both stormy enough and dark enough, March, September and October came out ahead in Sermersooq. That is storm season and darkness overlapping — the equinoxes tend to be geomagnetically active, and the nights are already long by then.

Darkest nights of the coming year

A bright moon washes out a weak display as effectively as street lighting. These new moons fall inside the Sermersooq viewing season.

11 Sep 2026
11 Oct 2026
09 Nov 2026
09 Dec 2026
07 Jan 2027
06 Feb 2027
08 Mar 2027

Where it is close to a certainty

Nuuk is close enough to reach and return in a night — 0 km north — and needs only Kp 3.

	Sermersooq	Nuuk
Kp needed	3	3
Nights per year	113.3	171.4
Geomagnetic latitude	72.6°	72.6°

See the Nuuk forecast

Confirmed reports from this area

1 verified sightings were logged within 300 km of Sermersooq between 2015-01-01 and 2016-12-31. Rare is not the same as impossible.

Aurorasaurus verified positive reports

Where the horizon opens up near Sermersooq

The display sits low on the northern horizon, so what beats a better forecast is open ground facing that way. Height gets you above the town glow; water gives you an unbroken skyline. These are within a short drive of Sermersooq.

Ángalínguaq — cape5.7 km north-west
Miteruluit Nûat — cape6.7 km west-north-west
Iviangiussat — mountain6.7 km west-north-west
Qeqertasussuk — island7.1 km west
Qíngup Nunâ — island14.3 km west
Nákaigajugtoq — mountain24.3 km east-north-east

Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)

The last nights it was visible here

Nights in the last decade when the storm was strong enough for Sermersooq and the sky was dark enough to show it.

Date	Peak
2026-03-30	Kp 3.0
2026-03-29	Kp 3.33
2026-03-28	Kp 3.67
2026-03-27	Kp 3.33
2026-03-26	Kp 3.0

NOAA planetary Kp

Aurora forecasts across Sermersooq

All 1 places in Sermersooq with a forecast page, and the Kp each one needs.

NuukKp 3

Know when it is worth going outside

Revon watches the Sermersooq forecast and pushes an alert when the odds for tonight clear your threshold — no checking, no guessing.

Get aurora alerts on iPhone

Common questions about the aurora borealis in Sermersooq

Can you see the aurora borealis from Sermersooq?

Yes. On the last 10.0 years of NOAA Kp records, Sermersooq had about 113.3 nights a year when the storm was strong enough and the sky dark enough at the same time.

What Kp index do you need to see the aurora borealis in Sermersooq?

Kp 3. Sermersooq sits at geomagnetic latitude 72.6°, and the auroral oval only reaches that far from the pole once activity hits Kp 3.

When is the best time of year to see the aurora borealis in Sermersooq?

March, September and October. Those months scored highest once both conditions are counted together: geomagnetic activity and enough hours of real darkness. From April to August the sky over Sermersooq never gets fully dark, so nothing is visible however strong the storm.

Where can you escape the light pollution near Sermersooq?

The centre of Sermersooq reads Bortle 2. The nearest sky at Bortle 2 is about 8 km north around Nuuk. On a marginal night that drive matters more than the forecast does.

Where is the nearest place to Sermersooq with reliable aurora borealis?

Nuuk, Greenland — 0 km north. It needs only Kp 3 and averages 171.4 viable nights a year against 113.3 in Sermersooq.

Nearby towns

Forecasts for places within reach of Sermersooq.