Aurora Borealis in Sibbo
Finland · 60.38°, 25.27° · geomagnetic 57.8° · needs Kp 7
Tonight in Sibbo
38%
Peak chance of a visible display tonight, from the same model the Revon app runs. Sibbo needs Kp 7 to see anything at all, and tonight the forecast peaks at Kp 5.7. Short of the threshold, which is what most nights look like here.
Updated 2026-08-02 20:20 UTC
The next 30 nights in Sibbo
Every night to come, scored the same way as tonight. The best of the open week is Sunday 2 Aug at 38%. Not one of the seven reaches the Kp 7 that Sibbo needs, which is normal rather than unlucky — it averages 2.3 viable nights a year. The 23 nights past the seven-day window move with the 27-day solar rotation and are updated daily in the app.
Nights 8–30 unlock in the Revon app
Revon aurora model over the NOAA Kp forecast and 27-day outlook
How often the aurora borealis reaches Sibbo
2.3 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
Wait for an alert; do not book a week
At Kp 7, Sibbo needs a severe geomagnetic storm before anything shows above the northern horizon. Storms that size arrive a handful of times per solar cycle and announce themselves a day or two ahead. Watching for one beats picking dates and hoping.
Hours of true darkness, month by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | 10.2 | 7.6 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.2 | 9.4 | 11.6 | 12.6 |
Solar declination and hour angle at −18°
Nothing to see from May to August
Through those months the sun never falls more than 18° below the Sibbo horizon, so the sky never darkens fully. Plan around the darker half of the year.
Getting clear of the light
Sibbo is small enough that its own lights are a minor problem — the centre reads Bortle 7. Walking to the edge of town is often escape enough.
- 19 km north-east — around Askola → Bortle 5
- 50 km south-south-east — around Porvoo → Bortle 4
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, September, November and March came out ahead in Sibbo. 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 Sibbo 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
If you would rather plan a trip than wait for a storm, the nearest place with genuinely frequent aurora is Rovaniemi, 681 km north in Finland.
| Sibbo | Rovaniemi | |
|---|---|---|
| Kp needed | 7 | 3 |
| Nights per year | 2.3 | 171.4 |
| Geomagnetic latitude | 57.8° | 63.6° |
Confirmed reports from this area
40 verified sightings were logged within 300 km of Sibbo 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 Sibbo
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 Sibbo.
- Petisbacken — hill3.3 km north-east
- Hästberget — hill3.3 km north-west
- Vermijärvi — lake5.8 km north-east
- Ollilanlampi — lake7.5 km west-north-west
- Kotojärvensaari — island11.0 km north-east
- Högklimpen — cliff11.0 km east
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
What to do with the daylight
Aurora watching is a night job, and in winter that leaves a short, bright day to fill. Close to Sibbo you will find Haarajoki DGPS-Transmiter and Sibbesborg, and for a day when the cloud sits low, Heikkilä, Taide- Ja Museokeskus Sinkka and Keravan Museo are indoors and near by.
Keep the daylight loose: the sky decides the evening, and the forecast can turn within a few hours.
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 Sibbo and the sky was dark enough to show it.
| Date | Peak |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-20 | Kp 7.0 |
| 2026-01-20 | Kp 7.67 |
| 2026-01-19 | Kp 8.67 |
| 2025-11-12 | Kp 7.33 |
| 2025-11-11 | Kp 8.67 |
NOAA planetary Kp
Know when it is worth going outside
Revon watches the Sibbo forecast and pushes an alert when the odds for tonight clear your threshold — no checking, no guessing.
Common questions about the aurora borealis in Sibbo
Can you see the aurora borealis from Sibbo?
Yes. On the last 10.0 years of NOAA Kp records, Sibbo had about 2.3 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 Sibbo?
Kp 7. Sibbo sits at geomagnetic latitude 57.8°, and the auroral oval only reaches that far from the pole once activity hits Kp 7. Storms that size occur about 3.2 nights a year.
When is the best time of year to see the aurora borealis in Sibbo?
September, November and March. Those months scored highest once both conditions are counted together: geomagnetic activity and enough hours of real darkness. From May to August the sky over Sibbo never gets fully dark, so nothing is visible however strong the storm.
Where can you escape the light pollution near Sibbo?
The centre of Sibbo reads Bortle 7. The nearest sky at Bortle 4 is about 50 km south-south-east around Porvoo. On a marginal night that drive matters more than the forecast does.
Where is the nearest place to Sibbo with reliable aurora borealis?
Rovaniemi, Finland — 681 km north. It needs only Kp 3 and averages 171.4 viable nights a year against 2.3 in Sibbo.
Nearby towns
Forecasts for places within reach of Sibbo.