The Aurora season is between September and April each year. This is because we need darkness for the activity. The best time to come is with what works with your plans already. Basically, we need enough darkness to see the activity - the darkness begins in August until early May every year, however, it's not dark long enough until September and to April.
The environmental conditions here are very dynamic and change so fast that it's impossible to predict the pattern even within a few days. We can not predict with any degree of accuracy more the 48 hours ahead nor will we give advice beyond that as it's so unreliable. This is simply not possible. However, there is very general average weather information you can find for example here. The reason the forecasts and apps are so unreliable here is that we have valleys, fjords, inland plateaus, and the Gulf Stream. In short, we can not possibly know how the cloud coverage will be, thanks to our microclimates, we can usually find gaps in the clouds even on seemingly impossible nights. Tromsø island has its own microclimate, so conditions here are not representative of the region at all. Do not look up "Tromsø weather" and expect a correct forecast for anywhere other than the city centre.
We have taken statistics on sightings of the Northern Lights and over the whole season, the sightings are about 8/10 nights. However, the 2/10 nights might all happen in a row, or the sighting that you see may be more of a glow or a glimpse. So it is important to be prepared for not seeing the Northern Lights, no matter the company that you choose to book with. It is a natural phenomenon, though we always try our best, there are no guarantees. For this reason, we recommend that you book at least two nights, and consider having a third night free in case we need to rebook you because the conditions are unsafe for chasing.
In regards to the kp, don't worry too much about this. If there is any solar activity in the Northern Hemisphere then we would see it here, assuming there are gaps in the clouds and it is dark.
Wandering Owl runs Aurora Hunt tours every day from September to mid-April and our guides are experienced in reading short-term and constantly updated weather forecasts and they do their best to find gaps within cloud cover to spot the northern lights.
Please check out our Instagram page for photos. Here are the links to our galleries: This is for our Aurora Hunt and here are photos of our Arctic Landscapes fjord sightseeing tour. You can have a look at how different the Aurora can look depending on the environmental conditions at the time of taking the photo.
We suggest coming whenever it works with your plans and whenever it is most manageable because the chances are high and similar for the whole season. We'd like to make sure that you are informed that we offer no refunds, discounts or free rebooking for not seeing the Northern Lights on an activity with us. We promise to do our best, every night of the season.
We have created a blog with heaps of information on seeing the Northern Lights and forecasting. Take a look at it here. For any additional questions, please have a look at our extended FAQ database. Feel free to reach out again anytime for assistance.