Northern lights in Hemavan

Can you see the northern lights in Hemavan?

Yes. You can see the northern lights in Hemavan in the dark half of the year, roughly from September to March, on evenings and nights when the sky is clear. Hemavan is a mountain village in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden, at just under 66 degrees north – about 80 km south of the Arctic Circle – and there is little artificial light once you are outside the village. The aurora can never be promised, but with a little planning – darkness, clear weather and several nights – you improve your chances.

The northern lights are faint and only visible when it is dark. In the light summer nights you will not see them at all. Around Midsummer the sun only dips just below the horizon at midnight, and it never gets dark.

Autumn and early spring have the advantage that it is not as cold to stand outside and wait. Around Christmas and New Year the nights are longest: the sun is up only about three hours over a clear horizon, and it is dark most of the day. See when to visit Hemavan for the seasons month by month.

How often the aurora appears varies from year to year. The sun's activity follows cycles of roughly eleven years, and when the sun is quiet, northern lights are less common.

What are the northern lights?

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, appear when charged particles from the sun hit the earth's upper atmosphere, far above the clouds. The energy turns into light – usually green, sometimes with touches of red or blue – in arcs, bands, rays or curtains that move across the sky.

The aurora is most common in a belt around the magnetic North Pole, so the further north you are, the greater your chances.

How to improve your chances

• Get away from the lights. Street lamps, floodlit slopes and windows make faint aurora harder to see. Walking a few hundred metres away from the houses can make a big difference.
• Let your eyes adjust. It takes a while before your eyes see well in the dark. Avoid looking at your phone screen, or turn the brightness down.
• Look north – but when the aurora is strong it can appear across the whole sky.
• Be patient. The northern lights come and go. The sky can be quiet for a long time and then flare up within minutes.
• Go out on several evenings. A week in Hemavan gives you more chances than a weekend.
• Faint aurora can look grey to the naked eye, like a thin cloud. A camera picks up the colour better.

Reading the forecast

Two things decide whether you will see anything: whether there is auroral activity, and whether the sky is clear where you are.

• Aurora forecast. This shows the expected geomagnetic activity, often as a Kp value for the next few days. The higher the value, the better the chance – but the forecast is rough and can change quickly.
• Cloud forecast. Even with strong activity you will see nothing through cloud. Check the cloud cover for the evening and night in an ordinary weather forecast. Mountain weather can change fast.

Links to both forecasts are at the bottom of this page.

Photographing the aurora

• Keep the camera still. A tripod is ideal. Without one, rest your phone or camera against something steady.
• Use a long exposure. On a phone, choose night mode or a manual mode with a long shutter speed. With a camera, a wide-angle lens, a wide aperture and a shutter speed of a few seconds is a good start. Experiment.
• Turn off the flash and, if you can, set the focus manually to infinity.
• Include something in the foreground – a mountain top, birch trees or a cabin makes the picture.
• Batteries drain faster in the cold. Keep a spare battery or power bank in an inside pocket.

Clothing and safety

Standing still outside on a winter night is cold, even if it does not feel that way when you step out. Dress as for a long break on the ski slopes: layers, warm boots, thick mittens, a hat and preferably a down jacket over everything. Bring a thermos and something to sit or stand on.

• Do not go out onto the fell alone in the dark. Stay near the village or at places you know from daylight.
• Bring a head torch – with a red light if it has one, so you keep your night vision.
• Do not stand on roads or snowmobile trails. Cars and snowmobiles see you late in the dark. Wear reflectors.
• Tell someone where you are going and when you plan to be back.

Staying a week gives you several evenings to try – see accommodation in Hemavan. For more on the weather and what to bring, see practical information.