Best Time to See Northern Lights in Fairbanks

The aurora season in Fairbanks runs from August 21 to April 21, and within it the best time to see northern lights in Fairbanks, AK, is late February, March and early April. Each month below shows the average night low and day high (NOAA 1991–2020), the share of time the sky is clear or partly cloudy (WeatherSpark), and the hours of darkness.

The darkness figure is the hours in the middle of the month, which we calculated from the sun’s position: the time it spends more than 6° below the horizon. From May to July there is too little darkness to see the aurora.

Yes: you can see the northern lights in Fairbanks from August 21, when the nights get dark enough. By mid-August there are about 5 hours of darkness a night by our calculation, rising to about 9 by mid-September, and the nights are mild, with average lows of 48°F in August and 36°F in September. There is no snow yet, so the aurora hangs over green forest, rivers and still ponds.

The catch is cloud. WeatherSpark puts August’s share of clear or partly cloudy time at 38% and September’s at 36%, among the lowest of the season, so an autumn trip needs the same three-night plan as a winter one. Later is better if you can choose: March is clearer, at 45%, and nights are longer, while August trades darkness and clear sky for mild weather. Arctic Night Tours runs in autumn too, with recent reviews from September, while the dog sled waits for snow.

The best time of night to see northern lights in Fairbanks is between 10 PM and 2 AM, according to the UAF Geophysical Institute; in winter the wider window in interior Alaska runs from about 9 PM to 3 AM. That makes a tour’s hours more important than its price: some tours are back in town by 11 PM, before most of the peak. Drag the slider to see which tours are still out at 1 AM.

Tours that cover the whole peak include Arctic Night Tours and the private photography chase (both 8 PM – 4 AM), the dog sled (9 PM – 3 AM) and most lodges, which stay until 2 or 3 AM. Find Alaska’s Chena tour is back by 11 PM, and the Arctic Circle trips look for the aurora only on the drive back.

For clear skies, the best time to see northern lights in Fairbanks is March, clear or partly cloudy 45% of the time in WeatherSpark’s data. February and April follow at 42%, and January at 40%. The cloudiest stretch of the season is from August to December, between 36% and 38%. Even in March the sky is closed more often than it is open on any single night, which is why booking several nights matters more than picking the perfect week.

Clear-sky shares are averages over many years, not a forecast. Check the UAF Geophysical Institute’s aurora forecast and the cloud forecast on the afternoon of each tour, and use free cancellation up to 24 hours before to move a night when the outlook is poor.

On a short trip, the best time to see northern lights in Fairbanks, Alaska, is three nights in a row, booked in different formats, in late February or March. Explore Fairbanks says visitors who look for three or more nights have a better than 90% chance of seeing the aurora. Mixing a chase, a warm lodge and a night that’s worth it under cloud spreads the risk; the three plans below are priced per person from our October 2026 check.