When is the best time to see Northern Lights?
– A month by month travel guide to choose your best time to see the Northern Lights and travel in Lapland
If you join one of our Aurora Road Trip all month are good for Northern Lights. Why? Because we have such a big radius where we can travel to find clear skies and to go north – where Northern Lights can be nice also with smaller activity. If you are planning to stay in Rovaniemi the best chances to see Northern Lights you probably have in September, October, February, March and early April. Nevertheless climate chance has an impact and weather conditions are changing. That’s why even December (considered one of the worst month) has been quite decent some years.
The aurora season lasts from mid August and last until mid April. More specifically in Rovaniemi the first aurora can be visible already on the 8-10th August and they can be visible until 25th April. The more north you go the shorter the season will last because of the bright nights. North Cape for example has a season from beginning of September to end of March!
“Can we see aurora in the summer?” – The answer is no because we have 24 hours of sun in Lapland so that means that Northern Lights are there, but not visible!
When is the best time in fact?
Here a month by month travel guide for Auroras, landscapes, weather and other interesting facts about Lapland as a travel destiantion.
August
First Auroras, but still really bright and short nights, so best come after the 25th of August. Usually still warm temperature between 10 and 20 degrees.
September
One of the best month for Northern Lights: equinox effect, reflections on lakes and not too cold yet!
October
Still an amazing month to see Auroras. Equinox effect has still its impact, usually some autumn colours left, colder temperatures and sometimes the first snow in the north of Lapland.
November
Usually a quite grey and cloudy month in Lapland. That is why it is often a difficult month for Aurora Hunting if you stay only in Rovaniemi. We did our longest drives to catch the Aurora in November.
December
A bit like November. Usually also not the best month for Northern Lights if you are planning a one night tour - also due to clouds and snowfall, but it depends on the year. Days are really short and it is really busy in Lapland so best is if you book in advance.
January
January is one of the coldest month and gives often amazing in snow covered trees and landscape to photograph with the Northern Lights. Still often long tours, but usually lots of nights with good Auroras.
February
February in Lapland is usually full winter with good possibilities for Aurora. Also finally days are getting a bit longer so you can enjoy more activities during the day as well.
March
With September, March is one of the best time for Northern Lights and to travel in Lapland. Long days, usually good weather, close to equinox and a bit warmer temperatures between -5 and -25 degrees.
April
The first 10 days of April are often really really good for Northern Lights. Still close to the equinox and usually often clear skies. Nights get brighter and you can get nice sunset colours with the Aurora.
Read further more detailed for each month choose the best time for yourself!
August
The first aurora can be seen about 8-10 of August on the Rovaniemi latitudes, but still it is not a good time to come yet. Why?
Nights in beginning/ mid august are still really bright, so even with stronger auroras you won’t get to see much more than a faint line on the sky. If you want to come in August best time is after the 25th when the nights can start to get darker. Usually August is a really good month for the weather and we don’t need to drive much to see the northern lights. 🙂
Also temperature can be between 10 and 20 degrees which makes it nice to be outside 🙂
September
September is often one of the best months for northern lights but why?
- The Russell-McPherron effect (equinox Effect) is one of the reasons which means that usually we get stronger and more intense aurora displays.
- The weather is usually good (not too many cloudy nights) and warm which makes it pleasant to be outside ( lowest temperature is about 0 C)
- Lakes are not frozen which means we can often get those beautiful aurora reflections.
- No snow that means less light pollution and more available place to go with the cars, many nice spots road are closed in the winter.
- Long days and beautiful autumn colours all over Lapland that makes it also beautiful to explore during the day
October
Together with September October is an amazing aurora hunting month! (Sometimes even better)
The equinox effect brings still amazing show during the whole month and usually we don’t have snow until beginning of November which means that the scenery is really similar to September with not frozen lakes and some left autumn colours 🙂 In the north there can be the first snow on some hills.
Some of the best shows in the last years have been in October and the temperature can vary from +10 to -15 C which means that you need to start to wear winter clothes and you can get overalls and boots from us as well 🙂
November
In November days in Lapland are getting shorter and we get the first snow that can possibly stay. Overall November is sometimes a quite grey month in Rovaniemi – bot often not in other parts of Lapland. The cloud coverage is typically high in November around Rovaniemi which requires long drives and effort to see the Northern Lights. For the Aurora Road Trip November is still a good month because we have a much bigger radius and can even go deep into Norway to find clear skies.
In November we have done some of our longest tours to escape the clouds. We went even in Norway, 1000 km, in a single night.
Aurora display are usually a little less intense if you stay more south (but that does not mean that we cannot get amazing nights. We get those also in November).😊
Temperature from -5 to -25 degrees C.
December
In December usually real winter kicks in: snowfall increases and days are getting short. Often December has been a quite cloudy month, so usually we have to do really long tours (up to 800 km a night). But same as in November it can happen that the clouds coverage is so spread that there is no chance for auroras starting from Rovaniemi for a one night tour only.
Usually December is colder which makes it a bit better in terms of weather for aurora hunting.
December is also the busiest month in Lapland which means that if you want to join the Aurora Expedition with us you need to book in advance.
Also days are short (4 h of daylight in Rovaniemi) which gives little time to see around (that is also a reason why we don’t do many Aurora Road Trips in December)
Temperature in December between-10 and -35C
January
January is one of the coldest months and for that is usually more clear compared to November and December but still we often have to do long tours to get of the clouds of Rovaniemi but that has never been a problem. 🙂
We have had many days with successful tours in the last years and the nice thing of January is that we often have those full of snow trees all over Lapland which makes it really nice for photos and landscapes. 🙂
January is really cold month and temperatures can drop to -35 (I have seen -42 C)
Days are also getting longer and from mid January you can get the stunning combination of snow and sun.
February
We really like February for aurora hunting, a cold month in Lapland but usually a really good one. 🙂
February often has good weather and makes it easier for us to find clear skies and auroras can be better because getting closer to the equinox compared to November-January 😍
The trees can be still completely covered with snow!
Days are getting longer and we usually run a lot of Aurora Road Trips from the beginning to the end of the month. 🙂
Also one night aurora hunting are really good in February. 🙂
If you want to see the real winter and aurora it is a great month for you!
March
One of my favourite month and one of the best times for northern lights is March! March has both long days but still dark enough nights to be able to catch the northern lights!
The weather is usually good in March and usually it is really good for auroras because of the equinox effect!
March usually has some of the best aurora shows and the temperatures are a bit better (we can still get to -30 C some nights) but usually about -10 -25 C.
There is usually still a lot of snow on the ground but not much on the trees (except in few national parks).
Days are quite long which makes it an amazing month to explore Lapland and have plenty of time also for northern lights. 🙂
April
The beginning of the month usually we can get many nights of clear skies and auroras. The beginning of April (first 10 days) are usually really really good for northern lights even in Rovaniemi where usually is often cloudy!
April is still close enough to the equinox and it has usually good shows.
Temperature are usually quite nice – 5 to -10 C and the snow during the days usually starts to melt.
Nights are getting really short that I way we don’t recommend to come after the 10 of April because nights are getting also brighter and so it is harder after to catch a good show when you have only 2 h of dark 🙂
The aurora season can last until 23 of April but to see something then you would need a really strong aurora.