Aurora Borealis in Tromsø
Norway · 69.65°, 18.96° · geomagnetic 67.4° · needs Kp 3
Tonight in Tromsø
7%
Peak chance of a visible display tonight, from the same model the Revon app runs. Tromsø needs Kp 3 before anything clears the northern horizon, and tonight the forecast peaks at Kp 5.7 — comfortably over the line.
Updated 2026-08-02 20:20 UTC
The next 30 nights in Tromsø
Every night to come, scored the same way as tonight. The best of the open week is Friday 7 Aug at 10%. 4 of the seven reach the Kp 3 that Tromsø needs, topping out at Kp 5.7. 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 Tromsø
97.8 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
Tromsø 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.7 | 9.8 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 8.5 | 12.0 | 13.5 |
Solar declination and hour angle at −18°
Polar night
For part of the winter the sun does not clear the horizon at all in Tromsø. Darkness is continuous rather than nightly, so the aurora borealis can appear in what the clock calls afternoon.
Nothing to see from April to August
Through those months the sun never falls more than 18° below the Tromsø horizon, so the sky never darkens fully. Plan around the darker half of the year.
Getting clear of the light
The sky over Tromsø reads Bortle 5. Getting clear of the built-up area makes a visible difference on a marginal night.
- 11 km north → Bortle 5
- 21 km west-north-west → 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, October, February and March came out ahead in Tromsø. 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 Tromsø viewing season.
- 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 Alta, 169 km east-north-east in Norway.
| Tromsø | Alta | |
|---|---|---|
| Kp needed | 3 | 3 |
| Nights per year | 97.8 | 171.4 |
| Geomagnetic latitude | 67.4° | 67.1° |
Confirmed reports from this area
112 verified sightings were logged within 300 km of Tromsø 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 Tromsø
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 Tromsø.
- Giæverneset — headland3.2 km north-west
- Tomasjordneset — headland3.3 km north-east
- Rismålshaugen — hill4.4 km north
- Nordfjellet — mountain4.5 km east-north-east
- Johanhaugen — hill5.1 km north
- Håkøya — island6.3 km west
Places from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Places to watch from
Named viewpoints and reserves near Tromsø that sit outside the worst of the light. Each puts the northern horizon over open ground instead of over rooftops.
- Aurora Boralis Viewpoint 1.5 km
- Storfossen 28.8 km
- Prestvatn landskapsvernområde 1.3 km
- Håkøybotn naturreservat 8.7 km
- Kobbevågen naturreservat 15.9 km
Places from OpenStreetMap contributors
What to do with the daylight
Aurora watching is a night job, and in winter that leaves a short, bright day to fill. Tromsø keeps its fortified past above ground, at Skansen, and for a day when the cloud sits low, Perspektivet Folkeparken, Nordnorsk kunstmuseum and Magic Ice 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 OpenStreetMap contributors
Where to stay
Anywhere on the outskirts of Tromsø will do; what matters is being able to step outside and check the sky without a drive first.
- Moxy Tromsø 2.7 km from the centre
- Enter City Hotel 0.1 km from the centre
- Quality Hotel Saga 0.1 km from the centre
- Thon Hotel Polar 0.1 km from the centre
- Scandic Grand Tromsø 0.1 km from the centre
- Thon Hotel Tromsø 0.1 km from the centre
Places from OpenStreetMap contributors — confirm before booking
The last nights it was visible here
Nights in the last decade when the storm was strong enough for Tromsø and the sky was dark enough to show it.
| Date | Peak |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-27 | Kp 3.33 |
| 2026-03-26 | Kp 3.0 |
| 2026-03-24 | Kp 5.0 |
| 2026-03-23 | Kp 5.0 |
| 2026-03-22 | Kp 6.67 |
NOAA planetary Kp
Know when it is worth going outside
Revon watches the Tromsø forecast and pushes an alert when the odds for tonight clear your threshold — no checking, no guessing.
Common questions about the aurora borealis in Tromsø
Can you see the aurora borealis from Tromsø?
Yes. On the last 10.0 years of NOAA Kp records, Tromsø had about 97.8 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 Tromsø?
Kp 3. Tromsø sits at geomagnetic latitude 67.4°, 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 Tromsø?
October, February and March. 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 Tromsø never gets fully dark, so nothing is visible however strong the storm.
Where can you escape the light pollution near Tromsø?
The centre of Tromsø reads Bortle 5. The nearest sky at Bortle 4 is about 21 km west-north-west. On a marginal night that drive matters more than the forecast does.
Where is the nearest place to Tromsø with reliable aurora borealis?
Alta, Norway — 169 km east-north-east. It needs only Kp 3 and averages 171.4 viable nights a year against 97.8 in Tromsø.
Nearby towns
Forecasts for places within reach of Tromsø.
- 🇳🇴 Harstad - Norway134 km
- 🇳🇴 Alta - Norway169 km
- 🇸🇪 Kiruna - Sweden206 km
- 🇳🇴 Bodø - Norway323 km
- 🇳🇴 Mo i Rana - Norway421 km
- 🇸🇪 Boden - Sweden440 km
- 🇫🇮 Rovaniemi - Finland448 km
- 🇸🇪 Luleå - Sweden472 km