The best time to see the northern lights in the Faroe Islands
The short answer
Late September to early November, and March. Over 30 years of measured geomagnetic data, October and September are the two strongest months at 9.2% and 7.8% of dark nights reaching storm level, against 3.5% in December.
That is not what most guides say, because most guides reason from darkness. December has the longest nights of the year — 14.4 hours of them — and is close to the weakest month on the record. Geomagnetic activity peaks around the equinoxes, not the solstice.
May, June and July are impossible, not merely unlikely: the sun never goes far enough below the horizon at Tórshavn for the sky to be dark.
Measured, not predicted
Thirty years of nights, at three levels
Every figure here comes from the official Kp index, the standard measure of geomagnetic activity, filtered to the three-hour windows when the sun was more than 12° below the horizon at Tórshavn. A night counts if at least one of its dark windows reached the level in question. 7,870 nights across 1996–2025 had any darkness at all, and those are the nights below.
Nights with a storm (Kp 5+) Nights with activity (Kp 3+) × no darkness at this latitude
Column chart of twelve months showing two series. Nights reaching Kp 3 or more are shown behind and are far more common than nights reaching Kp 5 or more, which peak in October at 9.2 percent. May, June and July are marked as not possible because there is no astronomical darkness.
Show these figures as a table
| Month | Nights with a storm (Kp 5+) | Nights with activity (Kp 3+) |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4.8% | 38.6% |
| Feb | 5.9% | 44.8% |
| Mar | 7% | 41.9% |
| Apr | 4.9% | 36.3% |
| May | — | — |
| Jun | — | — |
| Jul | — | — |
| Aug | 3.2% | 28.4% |
| Sep | 7.8% | 39.6% |
| Oct | 9.2% | 44.4% |
| Nov | 6.3% | 42.3% |
| Dec | 3.5% | 36% |
The complete record, month by month
| Month | Nights with darkness | Dark hours per night | Kp 3 or more | Kp 4 or more | Kp 5 or more (a geomagnetic storm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 930 | 13.7 h | 38.6% | 16.5% | 4.8% |
| February | 848 | 12 h | 44.8% | 20% | 5.9% |
| March | 930 | 8.5 h | 41.9% | 18.9% | 7% |
| April | 871 | 5.3 h | 36.3% | 14% | 4.9% |
| May | — | — | — | — | — |
| June | — | — | — | — | — |
| July | — | — | — | — | — |
| August | 630 | 4.7 h | 28.4% | 9.5% | 3.2% |
| September | 900 | 7 h | 39.6% | 19.8% | 7.8% |
| October | 930 | 11.8 h | 44.4% | 22.7% | 9.2% |
| November | 900 | 12 h | 42.3% | 19.4% | 6.3% |
| December | 931 | 14.4 h | 36% | 14.6% | 3.5% |
A dash means the month had no astronomical darkness at all, so there was nothing to measure. The darkest month on this table is December, at 14.4 hours a night — and it is not the most active one.
What these numbers do not tell you
- They are not a forecast. These are measurements of past nights, not a prediction. Space weather cannot be forecast months ahead, and a month that has been good historically can be quiet.
- Cloud is not included. Cloud is not included in these figures. A clear sky is required and the Faroe Islands are frequently overcast, so the share of nights on which you would actually have SEEN an aurora is lower than every number here.
- The solar cycle moves. Geomagnetic activity rises and falls on a roughly eleven-year solar cycle, so the level in any given winter can sit well above or below this long-run average.
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for GeosciencesGeomagnetic Kp index, Geomagnetic Observatory Niemegk
Matzka, J., Stolle, C., Yamazaki, Y., Bronkalla, O. and Morschhauser, A., 2021. The geomagnetic Kp index and derived indices of geomagnetic activity. Space Weather, 19, e2020SW002641. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002641
What it looks like in practice
A midwinter display, and why we are not recommending midwinter
A midwinter display, filmed in January — the month with the most darkness and, on the record below, some of the least activity.
Midwinter absolutely delivers — the footage above is January. The argument on this page is not that December and January are bad months; it is that choosing them because the nights are long optimises the wrong variable, and costs you the shoulder-season timetable at the same time.
Season by season
What each part of the season is like, including the buses
The aurora figures are only half the decision. The other half is whether the network can get you to somewhere dark and back, which changes through the year.
-
Late August and September
August 3.2% storm nights 4.7 h dark September 7.8% storm nights 7 h dark
Darkness returns to this latitude in the second half of August, and September is already one of the stronger months on the record. Days are still long enough to travel in and the nights are just long enough to watch — a combination December does not offer.
On the network: The schoolday calendars restart in mid-August, so the branch routes are running again after the summer gap, and the seasonal Mykines crossing is in its final weeks.
-
October and early November
October 9.2% storm nights 11.8 h dark November 6.3% storm nights 12 h dark
The strongest stretch on the whole record, and the window this page would point a first-time visitor at. Long enough nights to be out for hours, activity at its historical peak, and the weather not yet at its worst.
On the network: Still shoulder season for beds, and the branch routes are mid-calendar rather than broken up by holidays. Route 201 to Gjógv switches to its winter routing via Funningur at some point in here; SSL publishes the date, we do not.
-
December and January
December 3.5% storm nights 14.4 h dark January 4.8% storm nights 13.7 h dark
The most darkness and, on this record, some of the least activity. Midwinter is not a bad time to come — but choosing it specifically because the nights are long is optimising the wrong variable.
On the network: The schoolday calendars carry a long list of holiday dates with no service at all, so the branch routes lose days exactly when the nights are longest.
-
February and March
February 5.9% storm nights 12 h dark March 7% storm nights 8.5 h dark
The spring equinox brings activity back up while there is still plenty of darkness, which makes March the mirror image of October and the second-best window in the year.
On the network: Schoolday calendars run through to 18 June, so the weekday branch routes are about as dependable as they get, and the days are long enough again to travel and watch on the same day.
Experiences
Guided trips in the dark season
Scheduled buses stop long before the sky does, so an evening out of the towns usually means a guided trip. These are live listings for the islands, not a fixed list we wrote once.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we tell you about the buses and ferries, and no operator pays for a place on this site.
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Keep planning
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for GeosciencesGeomagnetic Kp index, Geomagnetic Observatory NiemegkVisit Faroe IslandsNorthern Lights GuideStrandfaraskip LandsinsRoute overview — every scheduled bus and ferry route