Northern Lights Forecast for Vík

Northern Lights in Vík

Vík í Mýrdal is the southernmost village in Iceland, on the Ring Road about 180 km south-east of Reykjavík, and the largest settlement for some 70 km around. It lies directly south of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap, so the open horizon is the sea, and looking north from the village you see hills rising toward the glacier. The weather matters more than anything else here: Vík gets about 2,250 mm of precipitation a year, nearly three times as much as Reykjavík.

Víkurkirkja, above the Katla flood

The church on the hill above the village was finished in 1934 to a design by Guðjón Samúelsson, who also designed Hallgrímskirkja. A paved road climbs to a small car park, and a short trail continues to the graveyard on the hilltop. From up there you look over the village and the coast to the Reynisdrangar sea stacks, above the houses and their lights.

The hill matters for another reason. Katla, the volcano under Mýrdalsjökull, last had a major eruption in 1918, and a glacial flood from an eruption could destroy much of the village. The church is said to be the only building that would survive it, and residents might have as little as 15 minutes to get there.

Víkurfjara, Reynisfjara and the warning light

Víkurfjara is the black beach in front of the village, with Reynisdrangar standing off the end of the Reynisfjall ridge to the south-west. Reynisfjara is on the western side of the ridge, about 10 km from the village by road. Basalt columns line the cave Hálsanefshellir at its eastern end, and the Dyrhólaey promontory, 120 m high with a sea arch and a lighthouse from 1927, rises to the west.

Waves at Reynisfjara surge far up the sand without warning and have killed several visitors. A light sign on the path from the car park is linked to an automatic wave forecast: on yellow, keep out of the yellow zone; on red, do not go past the sign. In the dark you will not see a wave coming, so stay high on the beach, well back from the wash.

Reynisfjall and the road over Mýrdalssandur

From Reykjavík the Ring Road passes Seljalandsfoss and then Skógafoss, both about 60 m high; Skógafoss is roughly half an hour west of Vík. Just west of the village the road climbs over Reynisfjall, and Vegagerðin closes that stretch in storms, several times in a typical year. A closure can leave you stranded on one side of the ridge, so check road.is before crossing it at night. East of Vík the Ring Road crosses Mýrdalssandur toward Jökulsárlón.