Northern lights in Tromsø: how good are your odds?
Tromsø, some 350 km north of the Arctic Circle, is one of the best places on earth to see the northern lights: the city lies under the aurora oval, where the lights appear even on quiet nights. What decides your trip is the sky. The coast is often cloudy: in January, only about 25 % of the sky is clear on average.
How likely is the right weather?
Clear dark hours per night: the hours of darkness times the average share of clear sky. Tap a month to see its numbers.
- poor
- fair
- good
- excellent
- The moment's season
January at a glance
Your odds of a clear night
69 % chance of at least one mostly clear, dark night in January
Chance of a mostly clear sky on a given night: 25 %
On average 1.0 of 4 nights are mostly clear.
A guide from long-term averages, not a forecast. Days are counted as independent; weather comes in spells, so the real odds are somewhat lower.
Dark enough from September to March
From late September to late March the nights are dark enough for the aurora. In January the sky is properly dark – the sun more than 12° below the horizon – for about 15.2 hours a night. Around the turn of the year the sun does not rise at all: the polar night lasts from late November to the middle of January.
Clouds are the real challenge
With a clear sky only about 25 % of the time, it pays to plan several nights. Over 4 nights, the chance of at least one mostly clear night is roughly 69 %. That assumes each night is independent; in reality cloudy spells often last for days.
That is why aurora tours drive wherever the gaps are, often inland towards the Finnish border, where the weather can be completely different from the coast.
Cold, but milder than you think
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Tromsø is mild for its latitude: in January, days reach about 0 °C and nights about −4 °C. Inland, away from the sea, it gets much colder at night – dress in layers for a night out on a tour.
Clear dark hours at other aurora destinations
Average clear dark hours per night in January: more hours mean better odds. A dry inland climate such as that of Fairbanks in Alaska beats the coast.
- 6.1 h
- 3.8 h
- 3.5 h
- 3.2 h
- 2.4 h
Quick answers
When is the best time to see the northern lights in Tromsø?
From late September to late March, when the nights are dark. In January, there are on average about 3.8 clear dark hours per night.
How likely is it to see the northern lights in Tromsø?
The lights are active above Tromsø on most dark nights; the clouds decide. With about 25 % clear sky in January, the chance of at least one mostly clear night over 4 nights is roughly 69 %.
How cold is Tromsø in winter?
In January, about 0 °C by day and −4 °C at night on average – mild for the Arctic, thanks to the Gulf Stream.
How the numbers are worked out
All values are long-term averages for 1996–2025: rain days count 1 mm or more of precipitation, snow days 1 cm or more of fresh snow. The snow chance is the one on our destination pages. Clear sky is 100 % minus the mean cloud cover. Sunrise, sunset and darkness are calculated for the 15th of each month. The weather on a given day can be very different; check the forecast before you go.
Climate averages 1996–2025 (sunshine partly WMO station normals 1991–2020), not a forecast. Data: Copernicus ERA5 / ERA5-Land via Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), NOAA OISST, WMO 1991–2020 (NOAA NCEI), GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Sources & licences
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