Västerbotten County, SwedenMagnetic latitude 62.0°Population 35,51634 m above sea level
Northern lights in Skellefteå
From Skellefteå the aurora can show up on almost any clear, dark night — low to the north when activity is quiet, higher and overhead when it picks up. Since 1995 that level (Kp 4.7) was reached during darkness here on 809 nights.
Right now
The aurora may be in view right now — go outside and look north!
Updates every minute while this page is open.
Tonight in one minute
Yes — good chance tonight
- Solar activity Strong enough: Kp 2.7 expected, 0.3 needed here.
- Sky Mostly clear (20% cloud).
- Darkness Dark from 18:57 to 05:47.
What to do: Go somewhere dark around 01:00, give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust and look north, low over the horizon.
- Detailed forecast Fri 16 2.7 Good chance · Kp 2.7
- Sat 17 1.7 Good chance · Kp 1.7
- Sun 18 1.7 Good chance · Kp 1.7
- 27-day trend Mon 19 2 Good chance · Kp 2
- Tue 20 3 Good chance · Kp 3
- Wed 21 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Thu 22 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Fri 23 4 Possible · Kp 4
- Sat 24 3 Possible · Kp 3
- Sun 25 2 Possible · Kp 2
- Mon 26 2 Possible · Kp 2
- Tue 27 2 Possible · Kp 2
- Wed 28 2 Possible · Kp 2
- Thu 29 2 Good chance · Kp 2
- Fri 30 5 Good chance · Kp 5
- Sat 31 5 Good chance · Kp 5
- Sun 1 5 Good chance · Kp 5
- Mon 2 3 Good chance · Kp 3
- Tue 3 2 Good chance · Kp 2
- Wed 4 2 Good chance · Kp 2
- Thu 5 3 Good chance · Kp 3
- Fri 6 3 Good chance · Kp 3
- Sat 7 3 Good chance · Kp 3
Saturday 17 October — Good chance · Kp 2.7 · best around 00:30 · Forecast cloud: 22%. · Reliability: good
Each box is one night: the colour shows the chance, the number the expected Kp. Tap a night for details.
📅 Add these nights to your calendar — it updates itself (.ics)
How far ahead can the northern lights be forecast?
- Minutes to an hour: satellites 1.5 million km away measure the solar wind before it reaches Earth. This is the surest warning — the “Right now” box uses it.
- 1–3 days: when the Sun throws out a cloud of particles, it takes one to three days to arrive. NOAA's 3-hourly forecast covers these nights; the timing can still be off by a few hours.
- 4–27 days: the Sun turns once every 27 days, and regions that disturbed Earth's field last time often do it again. NOAA's 27-day outlook gives this rough trend — new eruptions are not in it yet.
Tonight
Updated 20:06 local time
Excellent chance
Best around 01:00. Forecast max Kp 2.7 (this place needs 0.3), average cloud 20%.
- Dark enough
- 18:57 – 05:47
- Sunset
- 17:11 · sunrise 07:34
- Moon
- 32%
- Kp neededKp index: a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity. The higher it is, the further from the poles the aurora reaches.
- Kp 0.3
- Kp for photos
- In photos: from Kp 0 (a red glow low in the north).
- Look towards
- north (356°)
Score = activity (NOAA Kp and OVATION) × clear sky (MET Norway) × darkness × moonlight. Methodology
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What you would see from Skellefteå
Facing north. Bands show where the aurora sits at two activity levels.
| Kp | What you see | Lower edge | Ray tops | Distance to the aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Visible to the north | 19° | 34° | 278 km |
| 2 | Visible to the north | 62° | 74° | 56 km |
| 3 | Overhead and all around | – | – | – |
| 4 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 5 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 6 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 7 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 8 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
| 9 | Overhead, and also to the south | – | – | – |
The Kp scale in plain words
Kp is a 0–9 score for how strongly the Earth's magnetic field is being shaken by the solar wind. The higher it goes, the further from the poles the northern lights reach. Kp 0–2 is a quiet night; Kp 5 and above is a geomagnetic storm.
- Kp 0–2 Quiet eye in Skellefteå camera in Skellefteå Only under the auroral oval: northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada.
- Kp 3 Unsettled next 24 h Bright in the Arctic; low on the horizon in central Scandinavia and southern Iceland.
- Kp 4 Active Overhead in the Arctic; low in the north from southern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Scotland.
- Kp 5 Minor storm (G1) Scotland, southern Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the northern US states and southern Canada.
- Kp 6 Moderate storm (G2) Northern England, Denmark, northern Germany and Poland, the US Midwest — often clearer in photos than to the eye.
- Kp 7 Strong storm (G3) Most of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czechia; red glow in photos from France and the northern Alps.
- Kp 8 Severe storm (G4) Central Europe to the eye; red sky in photos from northern Italy, Spain, the Balkans and Turkey's Black Sea coast.
- Kp 9 Extreme storm (G5) Seen across Europe and the US; in photos as far south as the Mediterranean, Turkey and North Africa (May 2024).
Light pollution
City sky. City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area.
A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south-south-west. Open in OpenStreetMap
Estimate from NASA VIIRS night-light data (sky-glow model within 50 km). Check access and private land before you go.
Hills and mountains
The horizon towards the north is open (terrain below 1.9°), so low aurora is not blocked.
From elevation data (AWS Terrain Tiles) along seven lines of sight up to 30 km.
Best months to see the aurora in Skellefteå
Share of nights 2005–2025 that were dark, active enough here and mostly clear.
March has been the best month (47% of nights), followed by September (42%).
| Month | Good nights | Clear nights | Darkness | Low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 42% | 46% | 6.9 h | 7° / 13°C |
| October | 35% | 38% | 10.5 h | 2° / 6°C |
| November | 34% | 37% | 13.3 h | -4° / 0°C |
| December | 32% | 35% | 14.6 h | -7° / -3°C |
| January | 32% | 34% | 14.1 h | -11° / -6°C |
| February | 37% | 40% | 11.5 h | -11° / -6°C |
| March | 47% | 49% | 8.4 h | -8° / -2°C |
| April | 34% | 52% | 2.4 h | -2° / 4°C |
Darkness through the year
- No full darkness (Sun 12° below the horizon) from 23 April to 19 August — the sky stays too bright for most auroras.
- Next new moon 9 November, next full moon 26 October. The darkest skies are in the week around new moon.
Aurora nights in Skellefteå since 1995
Nights when Kp reached 4.7 or more while it was dark here.
Most recent strong nights
- 10 October 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 4 October 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 3 April 2026 · Kp 5.7
- 2 April 2026 · Kp 5.0
- 22 March 2026 · Kp 6.7
- 20 March 2026 · Kp 7.0
- 13 March 2026 · Kp 6.0
- 3 March 2026 · Kp 5.0
Practical information
- Nearest airport
- Skellefteå Airport (SFT) · 15 km
Luleå Airport (LLA) · 104 km - Typical low / high in March
- -8° / -2°C
- What to wear
- Below freezing at night: thermal layers, a warm jacket, hat, gloves and winter boots. Full clothing guide
- Emergency number
- 112
- Winter driving
- From 1 December to 31 March, cars must use winter tyres (Alpine-marked or studded) with at least 3 mm of tread whenever winter road conditions apply. Studded tyres are allowed from 1 October to 15 April, and at other times when winter conditions apply or are expected. Trafikverket runs the road traffic information service. Road conditions
- Access to land
- Allemansrätten lets anyone walk and stay temporarily on others' land, including pitching a tent for a night or two, provided you don't disturb and don't destroy. It does not cover gardens next to homes, crops or grazing land, or motorised off-road driving. National parks and nature reserves can have stricter rules.
- Official space-weather service
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna: all-sky camera and IRF Aurora Alert app
- Weather service
- SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute)
Questions and answers
What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Skellefteå?
From Skellefteå the aurora can show up on almost any clear, dark night — low to the north when activity is quiet, higher and overhead when it picks up.
Which way should I look for the aurora in Skellefteå?
Face north (about 356° from true north). At Kp 0.3 the lower edge of the aurora sits roughly 19° above the horizon; stronger activity lifts it higher and further across the sky.
What is the best month to see the aurora in Skellefteå?
Over 2005–2025, March gave the best odds in Skellefteå (47% of nights dark, active enough and mostly clear), followed by September (42%).
When is the aurora season in Skellefteå?
From 23 April to 19 August the sky in Skellefteå never gets dark enough. Outside that period the aurora can be seen whenever activity and clouds allow.
Is there much light pollution in Skellefteå?
City lights hide all but the brightest displays. Plan to leave the urban area. A noticeably darker area starts about 5 km to the south-south-west.
When was the aurora last possible in Skellefteå?
Activity last reached storm level (Kp 5 or more) during darkness in Skellefteå on 10 October 2026 (Kp 7.0) — 809 such nights since 1995. Here the aurora also appears on many quieter nights.
Also covered by this forecast
Villages and districts around Skellefteå share its forecast: within a few kilometres the sky, the Kp needed and the best direction are the same.
- Sörböle 1 km
- Norrböle 1 km
- Erikslid 1 km
- Skellefteå S:t Olov 1 km
- Sunnanå 2 km
- Morö 2 km
- Alhem 2 km
- Anderstorp 2 km
- Skellefteå landsförs. 2 km
- Stämningsgården 3 km
- Degerbyn 3 km
- Mobacken 3 km
- Tuvan 4 km
- Södra Hedensbyn 4 km
- Norra Hedensbyn 4 km
- Stellsvedjan 5 km
- Fällbäcken 5 km