Aurora forecast · Mon 00:48 Finnish time
Northern lights forecast for Rovaniemi tonight
Activity is there (peaks near Kp 3.0 at 03:00) but cloud around 75%. Watch for a gap.
Best bet tonight: Saariselkä. Activity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, clearest 23:00–01:00 (6% cloud).
Aurora layer: NOAA OVATION, chance in the next half hour, violet low, yellow fair, red high. Cloud layer: Meteosat infrared from EUMETSAT, drawn as solid white wherever there is cloud, and it covers the aurora colour underneath: where the map is white you will not see the lights from there tonight. Clear sky shows the land itself: forest, lakes, fells and the roads between the towns. The satellite picture is about a quarter of an hour behind real time; this page fetches the newest one on every visit and every five minutes while open. Zoom in for the road numbers and the villages. Map tiles by Esri and OpenStreetMap contributors.
Viewing probability · Rovaniemi
dark, 66% cloud, 10% on the oval
Kp 3.0, 46% cloud
Kp 4.0, cloud 72%
Kp 3.7, cloud 96%
Chance of seeing something if you are outside, in the dark, looking north. Activity times clear sky; nothing more clever than that.
Cloud cover tonight · Rovaniemi
Lower is better. Bright bars are the dark hours; dim bars still have daylight.
Clearest 03:00–04:00 (56% cloud). Cloud forecast by MET Norway.
Kp activity
What it did, what comes next, what the month looks like
Kp runs 0 to 9 and is measured every three hours. Swipe the strips sideways. The white-edged bar is the latest measurement.
Kp history · last 3 days
measured, 3-hour steps
Kp next 48 hours
NOAA forecast, 3-hour steps
Kp 27-day outlook
NOAA, largest Kp each day
By destination
Tonight, town by town
Activity is the same across Lapland on any given night; what differs is the cloud and how far you are from lights. The verdict weighs the Kp forecast against the cloud cover during the dark hours.
Rovaniemi
FairActivity is there (peaks near Kp 3.0 at 03:00) but cloud around 75%. Watch for a gap.
Kp
3.0
Cloud
75%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 03:00–04:00 · 56% cloud
Levi
GoodActivity is there (peaks near Kp 3.0 at 03:00) but cloud around 78%. Watch for a gap.
Kp
3.0
Cloud
78%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 03:00–04:00 · 41% cloud
Saariselkä
GoodActivity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, clearest 23:00–01:00 (6% cloud).
Kp
3.0
Cloud
41%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 23:00–01:00 · 6% cloud
Inari & Ivalo
FairActivity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, clearest 23:00–01:00 (16% cloud).
Kp
3.0
Cloud
57%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 23:00–01:00 · 16% cloud
Ruka
GoodActivity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, clearest 23:00–01:00 (9% cloud).
Kp
3.0
Cloud
68%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 23:00–01:00 · 9% cloud
Ylläs
GoodActivity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, broken cloud around 74%.
Kp
3.0
Cloud
74%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 03:00–04:00 · 41% cloud
Pyhä-Luosto
FairActivity is there (peaks near Kp 3.0 at 03:00) but cloud around 75%. Watch for a gap.
Kp
3.0
Cloud
75%
Dark
20–04
Clearest 00:00–02:00 · 44% cloud
Kilpisjärvi
GoodActivity peaks near Kp 3.0 around 03:00, broken cloud around 68%.
Kp
3.0
Cloud
68%
Dark
21–04
Clearest 03:00–04:00 · 45% cloud
Next three nights
Which night to keep free
Kp is forecast about three days ahead; cloud is reliable for two. Beyond that, plan on the season, not the forecast.
| Destination | Tonight · 10/11 | Tomorrow · 10/12 | Tue · 10/13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rovaniemi | Fair Kp 3.0 · cloud 75% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Fair Kp 4.0 · cloud 72% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Poor Kp 3.7 · cloud 96% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Levi | Good Kp 3.0 · cloud 78% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 35% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Fair Kp 3.7 · cloud 92% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Saariselkä | Good Kp 3.0 · cloud 41% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 1% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Fair Kp 3.7 · cloud 85% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Inari & Ivalo | Fair Kp 3.0 · cloud 57% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 3% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 3.7 · cloud 76% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Ruka | Good Kp 3.0 · cloud 68% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 47% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Poor Kp 3.7 · cloud 98% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Ylläs | Good Kp 3.0 · cloud 74% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 42% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Good Kp 3.7 · cloud 91% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Pyhä-Luosto | Fair Kp 3.0 · cloud 75% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Good Kp 4.0 · cloud 84% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Poor Kp 3.7 · cloud 97% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
| Kilpisjärvi | Good Kp 3.0 · cloud 68% · dark 21:00–04:00 | Great Kp 4.0 · cloud 15% · dark 20:00–04:00 | Poor Kp 3.7 · cloud 99% · dark 20:00–04:00 |
Where to stand
Out of the lights, facing north
Every village has street lights and every hotel has a car park lit like a stadium. Two hundred metres of darkness does more for you than two points of Kp. Give your eyes ten minutes.
Rovaniemi
Ounasvaara hill above the town, or ten minutes north on the Sodankylä road where the river bank is dark.
Levi
The top of the fell by the gondola car park, or the shore of Immeljärvi lake below the village.
Saariselkä
Kaunispää summit road, five minutes up from the village. Kiilopää for total darkness.
Inari & Ivalo
The Inari lakeshore by the village, facing north over the ice. Nellim if you have a car.
Ruka
Rukatunturi summit car park, or the lakes on the Kuusamo road once you are past the resort lights.
Ylläs
The road between Äkäslompolo and Ylläsjärvi, or the frozen lake in front of Äkäslompolo.
Pyhä-Luosto
Pyhätunturi ski-area car park at the top, or Luosto fell by the Lampivaara turn.
Kilpisjärvi
The lakeshore facing Saana fell. Darkest skies of the eight; walk away from the hotel lights.
Questions
Before you plan a night around it
- When can you see the northern lights in Rovaniemi?
- From late August to early April. In September, October, February and March they show on roughly every second clear night; the weeks around Christmas are darker but cloudier. Most sightings fall between about 21:00 and 02:00.
- What Kp index do you need in Rovaniemi?
- Kp 2 is enough for a green arc low in the north from a dark spot outside town. Kp 3 gives bands you can see from near the village lights. Cloud stops more nights than a low Kp does, which is why this page weighs both.
- Is there a polar night in Rovaniemi?
- No. On 21 December the sun rises at 10:58 and sets at 13:31, two and a half hours of daylight with long blue twilight either side. Kilpisjärvi and Inari, further north, lose the sun for weeks. The midnight sun runs from early June to early July, when this page has no darkness to forecast.
- Can I see the aurora from the town itself?
- On a strong night, yes, but street lights wash out the faint ones. Two hundred metres of darkness with an open view north does more than two extra points of Kp. The spots listed above are where we would go.
How to read this page
Kp is a planet-wide number for how disturbed the magnetic field is. It says nothing about your sky. In Lapland you sit under the auroral oval, so even Kp 2 can show something; Kp 4 is a good night; Kp 5 or more is a storm.
Cloud decides more nights than Kp does. The verdict uses cloud cover during the dark hours, and the clearest two-hour window is named when there is one.
Bz is the solar wind’s north–south field. Negative (south) lets energy in. A strong negative Bz with a fast wind is the moment to put your boots on, whatever the Kp said this morning.
Darkness is computed from the sun, not guessed. From late May to late July there is none this far north, and the page says so.
Live cameras
Other people’s cameras, linked with thanks. Check them before you go out: if the Levi camera shows green, Levi is green.
- Apukka Resort, Rovaniemi
- Levi and Kilpisjärvi (Santatelevision)
- Saariselkä and Inari (Lapland North)
- All-sky cameras across Finland (FMI Auroras Now!)
- Camera list for every Lapland resort (NLAlert)
Space weather: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (public domain). Cloud cover: MET Norway, licensed CC BY 4.0. Satellite cloud on the map: EUMETSAT. Darkness from the sun’s altitude. Refreshed every 15 minutes; last built 00:48 Finnish time. A forecast is a chance, not a promise.