Northern Lights Forecast for Luosto

Northern Lights in Luosto

Luosto is a small ski village at the northwestern end of the Pyhä-Luosto fell chain, in the municipality of Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland, 117 km from Rovaniemi. It is a village of log buildings with a few hotels, shops and cafés, and the national park begins at its edge, so there is little light to get away from. At 67.1°N the sun is up for a little over an hour on the shortest day; the polar night proper starts a little further north, around Sodankylä.

The Pyhä-Luosto aurora alarm

Pyhä-Luosto runs a free real-time aurora alert, fed by its own sensors in Luosto and Pyhä, that sounds on your phone when the lights are visible and rates their strength from 1 to 5. You can sleep through a quiet evening and still catch a display in the small hours, and once the alarm goes off you can watch from the village itself.

The viewing hut on Ukko-Luosto

For a wider sky, climb Ukko-Luosto, the 514 m fell above the village, with the Finnish Meteorological Institute’s weather radar on its top. The viewing hut is about 2 km up from the village and is reached only on foot or by snowshoe; allow 30 to 45 minutes for the climb.

Amethyst on Lampivaara

The amethyst mine is on the top of Lampivaara hill, about 5 km from Ukko-Luosto, and is open in winter as well as summer. In winter the trips leave from the village center and from the Ukko-Luosto parking area. Visitors dig for their own amethyst and keep what they find. The stone formed about two billion years ago.

The turn-off at Torvinen

Long-distance coaches on Highway 4 do not come into the village; the nearest stop is Torvinen, 14 km away, where road 962 turns off toward Luosto. Buses run from Rovaniemi Airport and the railway station to Luosto all year, more often in winter. Kemijärvi, where the night train from Helsinki ends, is 70 km away. Road 962 continues past Luosto to Pyhä, the resort at the other end of the park, and on foot the 30 km hiking trail runs the length of the park between the two.