Cloud cover & weather for aurora hunting
Clouds decide the night more than the sun does. Live weather maps and 48-hour forecasts for every spot, with the dark hours marked.
Weather at every spot
Clouds decide the night more than anything else. Pick a spot to see its live weather map and the next 48 hours – darker bands show the hours dark enough for auroras.
Map: Windy.com (ECMWF model) · Forecast: Open-Meteo · Updated every 5 minutes
Finding clear skies in Lapland
Clouds are the biggest reason people miss the northern lights. Lapland’s weather can change fast, and conditions often differ a lot between places only an hour apart – coastal and fell areas in the north-west can be clear while Rovaniemi is overcast, or the other way round.
Watch the cloud layer on the map in motion: gaps tend to move with the wind, so a clear patch heading your way can mean a great hour later in the night. Thin high cloud still lets bright auroras through; thick low cloud blocks everything.
Combine this with the aurora forecast – and if you have a car, be ready to drive towards the clearest spot.