Thanks to longer hours of darkness and clear night skies december through march is usually the best time to observe this elusive natural phenomenon though you can sometimes see the northern.
Can i see the northern lights in iceland in the summer.
Plan your iceland summer holiday in advance.
If your goal in visiting iceland is to see the northern lights don t plan your trip in the summer.
Visitors can expect to see the lights on an average of four out of five clear nights during aurora season which lasts from aug.
And you can t see the northern lights unless it is dark.
You can read more about the northern lights here.
It has been said in these forums previously that the northern lights have been seen in north east iceland in late august.
The best season to see the northern lights in iceland is from september to mid april these are the months where there are full dark nights.
21 to april 21.
Summer june to july summer is short and sunny in iceland.
Some sources will recommend november to february as they are the darkest months with the longest possible window to see the lights however these sources often fail to take into account that these months can have the worst weather with lots of rain and snow.
The weeks surrounding the june solstice bathe iceland in sunlight making it almost impossible to see the aurora because it just doesn t get dark enough.
Instead it circles around the sky touching the southern horizon but never sinking below it.
Personally i ve never seen them until well into september.
Personally i ve never seen them until well into september.
The brightness of this midnight sun entirely obscures the northern lights.
However that also means that you can t see the northern lights over iceland in the summer.
In the weeks surrounding the summer equinox at the end of june the sun never sets in iceland.
But with each day in august it get s darker and your odds of seeing the northern lights increase as the month progresses.
The northern lights season in iceland is from september to mid april.
There must be enough solar activity usually anything greater than kp 2 is a good rule of thumb to witness the aurora in iceland these last two conditions can be researched prior to looking for the lights by referencing the aurora forecast and cloud cover forecast.
Some sources will recommend november to february as the prime time for viewing the aurora as they are the darkest months with the longest possible window to see the lights.