Akureyri sunset and sunrise forecast
Next sunrise: today at 08:47, flat and grey (3/100); the sun clears the hills at 09:47. Aurora: good chance Friday night, best around 02:00 (Kp 5). Times are Iceland time (UTC).
- Sunrise
- 08:47 · ESE
- Sunset
- 17:03 · WSW
- Sun on the land
- 09:47–15:59
- Golden hour tonight
- 15:35–17:37
- Aurora tonight
- Clouded out
Updated 04:11Akureyri: the weather now
The light, day by day
For photographers in Akureyri: which sunrises and sunsets should colour, when the sun drops behind the hills, and the nights the aurora could show.
Best this week
- Yesterday26 Oct
- Today27 Oct
- Tomorrow28 Oct
- Thu29 Oct
- Fri30 Oct
- Sat31 Oct
- Sun1 Nov
- Mon2 Nov
An illustration of the forecast: the cloud is the hourly forecast, eased between the hours; the sun, moon and stars are where they will be. Skyline from Iceland's 10 m elevation model (ÍslandsDEM) nearby and coarser terrain beyond; trees and small buildings left out.
Clouded out
- Dark
- 19:01–06:52
- Activity
- Kp 0.7NOAA forecast
- Cloud
- 100%
A bright moon washes out a faint aurora but lights the landscape.
Cloud by layer from DMI's HARMONIE and ECMWF (via Open-Meteo), read toward the sun out to 300 km; skyline from ÍslandsDEM (Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands, CC BY 4.0) and AWS Terrain Tiles; aurora activity from NOAA. The colour score is our own estimate, and skies like to surprise.
The sun at Akureyri through the year
On the 15th of each month: when and where the sun rises and sets, when it's really on the land (from the skyline here), how long the golden light lasts, and the hours dark enough for the aurora.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Sun on the land | Golden hour, a day | Dark for aurora |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11:00 SSE 147° | 15:44 SSW 213° | 12:14–13:49 | 6 h 23 min | 14 h 26 min |
| February | 09:15 ESE 120° | 17:38 WSW 241° | 10:14–16:33 | 4 h 2 min | 11 h 49 min |
| March | 07:31 E 93° | 19:12 W 267° | 08:31–17:45 | 3 h 17 min | 8 h 38 min |
| April | 05:33 ENE 64° | 20:53 WNW 297° | 06:49–19:42 | 3 h 33 min | 3 h 28 min |
| May | 03:38 NE 35° | 22:41 NW 326° | 05:04–21:42 | 5 h 24 min | Too light |
| June | 01:42 N 7° | 00:46 N 354° | 03:40–00:21 | 6 h 18 min | Too light |
| July | 02:55 NNE 23° | 23:37 NNW 337° | 04:34–22:28 | 7 h 6 min | Too light |
| August | 04:52 NE 52° | 21:38 NW 308° | 06:11–20:41 | 3 h 57 min | Too light |
| September | 06:32 E 81° | 19:40 W 279° | 07:38–18:16 | 3 h 16 min | 6 h 55 min |
| October | 08:07 ESE 109° | 17:47 WSW 250° | 08:55–16:27 | 3 h 35 min | 10 h 40 min |
| November | 09:56 SE 138° | 15:56 SW 222° | 10:36–14:11 | 7 h 25 min | 13 h 38 min |
| December | 11:31 SSE 158° | 14:43 SSW 202° | Behind the hills | 5 h 19 min | 15 h 11 min |
Iceland time (UTC, all year). Directions are where the sun stands at sunrise and sunset, in degrees from north. Sun on the land: from when it clears the hills to when it drops behind them, from Iceland's 10 m elevation model within 3 km (trees and small buildings left out) and coarser terrain beyond. Golden hour: the sun between 6° above and 4° below the horizon. Dark for aurora: the sun more than 12° down.
Questions visitors ask
When is sunset at Akureyri today?
Today (27 October) the sun sets at 17:03 in the west-southwest (239°), but it drops behind the hills at 15:59, 64 minutes earlier. The evening golden hour runs 15:35–17:37 and blue hour 17:37–17:58. Times are Iceland time (UTC, all year).
When is the best light for photography in Akureyri this week?
No sunset this week looks promising; the best of them is Thursday: flat and grey (sunset at 16:56, golden hour 15:24–17:31). The best-looking sunrise is Saturday: a touch of colour (sunrise at 09:01, golden hour 08:26–10:36). The best aurora chance is Friday night around 02:00 (good chance, Kp 5). Cloud forecasts more than three days out are rough, so check again the day before. Based on cloud by layer from DMI's HARMONIE and ECMWF and NOAA's aurora forecast as of 27 October 2026; times are Iceland time (UTC).
Can I see the northern lights at Akureyri tonight?
Clouded out tonight (26 October), Kp 1. It's dark 19:01–06:52, with 100% cloud on average over those hours, and the moon is 99% lit. Aurora forecasts change by the hour, so check again in the evening.
Which direction does the sun set at Akureyri?
It swings with the seasons. Around the June solstice the sun sets in the north (357°) at about 00:59 (just after midnight); at the equinoxes almost due west (267° in mid-March); in December in the south-southwest (201°) at 14:42. Sunrise swings the same way, from the north (4°) in June to the south-southeast (159°) in December. Times are Iceland time.
Does the sun go behind the mountains at Akureyri in winter?
Yes. From about 10 December to 2 January the sun doesn't clear the mountains here at all, even at noon (in December it climbs only 0.9°, under a 2° skyline to the south), so there's no direct sunlight, though the sky still colours at sunrise and sunset. It's back around 3 January. Worked out from Iceland's 10 m elevation model around where the spot is photographed; trees and small buildings are left out.
When is the best time of year to photograph Akureyri?
It depends on the light you're after. For the aurora, the nights are dark enough from about 20 August to 21 April, and in December 15 h 11 min a day are dark enough. Golden light lasts longest in midwinter (about 6 h 23 min a day in January) and around midsummer, when sunset runs into sunrise (about 6 h 18 min in June). Around the equinoxes it's about 3 h 17 min a day, morning and evening together. Note that from 10 December to 2 January the sun doesn't clear the mountains here.
Cloud by layer from DMI's HARMONIE and ECMWF (via Open-Meteo), read toward the sun out to 300 km; skyline from ÍslandsDEM (Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands, CC BY 4.0) and AWS Terrain Tiles; aurora activity from NOAA. The colour score is our own estimate, and skies like to surprise.