Northern lights in Alta in January
88%
of 4-night stays in January saw the northern lights at least once, by our estimate. On any one night the chance was 46%. January is the best month for the northern lights in Alta by these numbers.
How long to stay in January
Chance of at least one good night, by length of stay, Alta in January, 2015–2025. 3 nights got you to about 3 in 4.
In a typical January, the longest run of nights without a single clear, dark hour was 3 nights. A stay shorter than that can fall entirely into one cloudy spell.
Week by week in January (4-night stay)
- 1 Jan – 7 Jan82%
- 8 Jan – 14 Jan88%
- 15 Jan – 21 Jan92%
- 22 Jan – 28 Jan88%
January in Alta, year by year
Good nights in January, each year 2015–2025. The typical January had 14 good nights; the worst, 2020, had 9 and the best, 2023, had 20. 2023–2025, around the solar maximum, averaged 18 against 13 before.
A good night = at least one hour that was dark (sun below −12°), mostly clear (NASA POWER cloud data, calibrated on FMI weather stations) and had a Kp index at or above the Kp 0.9 that Alta needs (GFZ Potsdam). These are estimates, not sightings. How it works
Other destinations in January
Alta ranks 4th of 21 popular aurora destinations for January (4-night stays, 2015–2025).
Yellowknife
99%Churchill
98%Fairbanks
89%Abisko
85%Kilpisjärvi
84%Inari
82%Aurora tours in Alta in January
A guide with a car can drive to wherever the clouds break. With cloudy spells of 3 nights in a typical January, that matters here. Booking for your first night leaves the rest of the stay to try again if it's cloudy.
Alta in January: questions
January is the best month for the northern lights in Alta by these numbers. In 2015–2025, 88% of 4-night stays in January saw the northern lights at least once, and an average January had 14 good nights (clear, dark and with auroras strong enough) out of 31. These are estimates from NASA cloud records and the Kp index, not sightings.
2 nights gave 68%, 4 nights gave 88%, 7 nights gave 96% odds of at least one good night in January (2015–2025). For about 3-in-4 odds, plan 3 nights or more. In a typical January, the longest run of nights without a single clear, dark hour was 3 nights. A stay shorter than that can fall entirely into one cloudy spell.
About 15.1 hours a night with the sun more than 12° below the horizon, which is dark enough for faint auroras. Of those, 3.6 hours a night were mostly clear on average, and 17 nights in an average January had at least one clear, dark hour.
Auroras can appear any time it's dark, but activity usually peaks around midnight, roughly 22:00 to 02:00. With about 15.1 hours of darkness a night in January, start looking as soon as it's dark and stay out past midnight if you can. The live forecast shows tonight's best hour.