Greenland · Aurora borealis
Is the aurora visible in Ilulissat tonight?
Right now
Maybe — stay ready.
Kp is 0.0. Ilulissat sits inside the polar cap, poleward of the oval — right now it’s low on the southern horizon.
Tonight's peak is forecast around Kp 5.3 (Minor storm). The forecast still depends on darkness, cloud and the moon at your exact spot.
Reliable about 30 minutes ahead — cloud decides the rest.
Ilulissat sits inside the polar cap, poleward of the auroral oval — it needs roughly Kp 1+ for the northern lights to come into view. Here's tonight's live space weather and how to plan around it.
Come back at 10:35 PM — that’s when the sky goes dark and the aurora could show.
Add a reminderHow to see the aurora from Ilulissat
Face south and find a clear, low horizon in that direction. Everything else — dark skies, adapted eyes, the camera trick — is the same anywhere on Earth, so it lives in the how to photograph the aurora guide.
When can you see the northern lights in Ilulissat?
Aurora season in Ilulissat runs roughly September – March. Here the months that pay off are October, March, and September — the table below shows why. See the full best time to see the aurora guide for the season in detail.
Ilulissat by the numbers
Between Sep 1, 2025 and Aug 31, 2026, Ilulissat had 257 nights dark enough for the aurora, and the planetary Kp reached the Kp 1+ this place needs on 256 of them. Averaged over 2015–2024 and this location's cloud cover, that works out to about 102 aurora-possible nights a year, most of them in October, March, and September.
| Month | Dark hours per night | Dark nights | Average cloud cover | Aurora-possible nights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17.5 h | 31 | 73% | 11 |
| February | 14 h | 28 | 72% | 10 |
| March | 10 h | 31 | 69% | 13 |
| April | 5 h | 27 | 64% | 12 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 62% | 0 |
| June | 0 | 0 | 68% | 0 |
| July | 0 | 0 | 64% | 0 |
| August | 1.8 h | 17 | 67% | 7 |
| September | 8.5 h | 30 | 67% | 13 |
| October | 12.8 h | 31 | 67% | 14 |
| November | 16.5 h | 30 | 71% | 11 |
| December | 19 h | 31 | 71% | 11 |
Sources: the sun's geometry (dark = at least 6° below the horizon), GFZ Potsdam's Kp index 2015–2024 (CC BY 4.0), ERA5 cloud cover via Open-Meteo (the table shows the monthly mean; the estimate counts days that were not overcast). An estimate for comparing places and months, not a forecast — how we estimate this.
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Aurora tours & stays near Ilulissat
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Aurora cabins & lodges
Cabins, lodges and aurora-view stays near Ilulissat — settle in and watch the lights.
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Rent a car to chase clear skies
Self-drive to dark-sky spots away from town glow. Compare every local supplier.
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Travel medical cover for a trip to Ilulissat — remote, cold and weather-dependent — from a few dollars a day.
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In depth
Read the Ilulissat destination guide
Best months, where exactly to go, and the tours worth booking — the full guide to seeing the aurora in Ilulissat.