Northern lights in Anchorage in March
35%
of 4-night stays in March saw the northern lights at least once, by our estimate. On any one night the chance was 12%. March is a good month in Anchorage, though February (41%) was better.
How long to stay in March
Chance of at least one good night, by length of stay, Anchorage in March, 2015–2025.
In a typical March, the longest run of nights without a single clear, dark hour was 5 nights. A stay shorter than that can fall entirely into one cloudy spell.
Week by week in March (4-night stay)
- 4 Mar – 10 Mar32%
- 11 Mar – 17 Mar38%
- 18 Mar – 24 Mar39%
- 25 Mar – 31 Mar27%
March in Anchorage, year by year
Good nights in March, each year 2015–2025. The typical March had 4 good nights; the worst, 2018, had 0 and the best, 2025, had 8. 2023–2025, around the solar maximum, averaged 6 against 3 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 3.6 that Anchorage needs (GFZ Potsdam). These are estimates, not sightings. How it works
Other destinations in March
Anchorage ranks 21st of 21 popular aurora destinations for March (4-night stays, 2015–2025).
Yellowknife
99%Churchill
98%Saariselkä
84%Kiruna
84%Jukkasjärvi
84%Abisko
83%Aurora tours in Anchorage in March
A guide with a car can drive to wherever the clouds break. With cloudy spells of 5 nights in a typical March, that matters here. Booking for your first night leaves the rest of the stay to try again if it's cloudy.
Anchorage in March: questions
March is a good month in Anchorage, though February (41%) was better. In 2015–2025, 35% of 4-night stays in March saw the northern lights at least once, and an average March had 3.7 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 20%, 4 nights gave 35%, 7 nights gave 47% odds of at least one good night in March (2015–2025). Even a week gave 47%, so treat the aurora as a bonus. In a typical March, the longest run of nights without a single clear, dark hour was 5 nights. A stay shorter than that can fall entirely into one cloudy spell.
About 8.8 hours a night with the sun more than 12° below the horizon, which is dark enough for faint auroras. Of those, 4.6 hours a night were mostly clear on average, and 21 nights in an average March 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 8.8 hours of darkness a night in March, start looking as soon as it's dark and stay out past midnight if you can. The live forecast shows tonight's best hour.