Skip to content
RatesReserve
Reserve
A guest under the northern lights among snow-crowned trees near Rovaniemi

Aurora forecast

Northern lights forecast for Rovaniemi tonight

A plain answer for tonight at Ollerovaara, 10 km from Rovaniemi: will the sky be clear, is the aurora active, and when does it get dark? Updated through the evening from the Finnish Meteorological Institute's cloud forecast and NOAA's aurora forecast.

Tonight at the chalets

Tonight's outlook for the chalets loads here: cloud, aurora activity and the best time to look.

Hour by hour

Tonight's outlook for the chalets loads here: cloud, aurora activity and the best time to look.

Each bar is one hour from 19:00 to 04:00. The taller the bar, the clearer the sky over the chalets. Green means a good chance of seeing the northern lights, gold means possible, grey means cloudy, and striped hours are not dark enough yet.

How to read it

Three things decide the night

  1. Clouds decide most nights

    The aurora happens far above the clouds, so a clear sky matters more than anything else. Below about a third cloud cover you have a real chance; above two thirds, very little gets through.

  2. Kp: how active the aurora is

    The Kp index runs from 0 to 9. Rovaniemi lies right under the auroral oval, so even Kp 2–3 is often enough on a clear night. A high Kp helps, but it cannot beat thick cloud.

  3. Darkness

    From late August to early April the sun sinks far enough below the horizon. In midwinter it is dark from mid-afternoon, but the best hours are still usually 21:00–02:00.

The tour minivan and two guests watching the aurora on a dark forest road
An aurora evening in the forest near Rovaniemi.

On the night

When the forecast looks good

  1. Turn off the lights in the chalet and look north from the window.
  2. Give your eyes 10–15 minutes in the dark.
  3. A phone on night mode often picks up colour before your eyes do.
  4. The aurora comes and goes: look again every half hour.

Cloudy here? The aurora hunt drives to wherever the sky is clear.

Northern lights tours

Questions

How accurate is the northern lights forecast?

Cloud forecasts are good for the next few hours and less certain further ahead, and aurora activity can only be forecast roughly. Treat it as a chance, not a promise, and look out whenever the sky is clear.

What Kp do you need to see the aurora in Rovaniemi?

Kp 2–3 is often enough, because Rovaniemi lies under the auroral oval. A clear, dark sky matters most.

Can I see the northern lights from my chalet?

Yes. Every chalet has a panoramic window facing north, towards where the aurora usually appears.

Where does this forecast come from?

Cloud cover from the Finnish Meteorological Institute's HARMONIE model for Ollerovaara (Open-Meteo as a backup), aurora activity from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, and darkness calculated from the sun's position.

Related

Thirty-five chalets. One of them for you.

Reserve

Free cancellation up to 60 days before arrival, except stays between 1 December 2026 and 10 January 2027, which are non-refundable.

Prefer to talk it through? Message us on WhatsApp or call +358 41 325 3257. In season we are here 9:00–21:00, and you can call us at night if you need us.