Northern Lights Forecast for Abisko

Northern Lights in Abisko

Abisko is a railway village of about 150 people on the shore of Torneträsk, 93 km north-west of Kiruna on the E10 and about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. Its Sámi name, Ábeskovvu, means “the forest by the great water”. Abisko National Park begins at the edge of the village, with Lapporten, the U-shaped valley between two peaks, in view to the south-east. For aurora watching, what sets Abisko apart is how little falls from its sky.

The blue hole over Torneträsk

The mountains along the Norwegian border wring most of the moisture out of Atlantic air before it gets here, and SMHI describes Abisko as lying in a precipitation shadow for most wind directions. The 1991 to 2020 normal is 347 mm a year, and April averages 11.4 mm, the lowest monthly normal SMHI records anywhere in Sweden. The patch of clear sky this often leaves over the village and the lake is known locally as the blue hole.

The dry pocket does not reach far. Björkliden is 7 km up the line, and Riksgränsen on the border, about 30 km west, gets roughly three times as much.

Njullá and the Aurora Sky Station

From Abisko Turiststation a chairlift rides about 2 km up Njullá (Nuolja), the 1,169 m mountain just west of the village, to the Aurora Sky Station at about 900 m. The Swedish Tourist Association (STF) opened it in 2007 as a café and lookout for the aurora. Evening visits run from autumn to late March with a limited number of places.

Abisko Östra and Abisko Turiststation

Abisko exists because of the Malmbanan, the ore railway from Kiruna to the ice-free port at Narvik, built through here between 1899 and 1902. Once it was finished, STF bought a house by the Abiskojåkka river and began taking in tourists. The line has two stops about 2 km apart: Abisko Östra in the village, and Abisko Turiststation at the STF mountain station, for the chairlift and the national park. Trains from Kiruna and Narvik stop at both, and overnight trains from Stockholm run up the line. By road, Kiruna is just over an hour away and Narvik about 80 km.

The national park and a century of measurements

The national park, 77 km² and protected since 1909, starts at the lakeshore. The Abiskojåkka canyon, a short walk from the naturum visitor center, was one of the reasons it was created. Kungsleden, the long-distance trail to Hemavan, starts at the tourist station and follows the river south.

The Abisko Scientific Research Station has taken measurements here since 1913, and the World Meteorological Organization lists it as a Centennial Observation Station.