Northern Lights Forecast for Tasiilaq

Northern Lights in Tasiilaq

Tasiilaq is a town of about 1,800 people on Ammassalik Island, on the southeast coast of Greenland, about 106 km south of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest town in East Greenland, home to more than half of the region’s people.

Polar bears and Flower Valley

On clear nights the aurora is often visible from the center of town, which matters here, because self-guided hiking beyond Tasiilaq is limited by the small but real chance of meeting a polar bear. For darker skies outside town, go with a local guide. Flower Valley is one of the walks considered safe to do on your own. East Greenland’s winter season runs from February to April, with dog sledding, snowmobiling, skiing and the northern lights; by March the days are long again, but the nights are still dark enough for the aurora.

A December with no sunshine

At 65.6°N there is no polar night. The sun still rises in December, for about three hours on the shortest days, but in an average December the town records no sunshine at all. Winters are long and snowy but milder than at Ilulissat or Kangerlussuaq, with January highs around −3 °C.

Sea ice and the piteraq

Ice closes the surrounding waters for much of the year. Supply ships can reach the harbor only from about June to November, and for part of the year ice stops the boats from Kulusuk. In autumn and winter the town can be hit by a piteraq, a cold, violent wind that pours down off the ice sheet. The one in February 1970 destroyed much of Tasiilaq.

The shipwreck church and Sermilik

The Ammassalik Museum is in the old church, built in 1908 by the crew of a Danish ship that had run aground nearby, using timber from the wreck. A model of the ship hangs from the ceiling, and the museum includes a traditional peat house. The town was founded as a Danish trading station in 1894 and was called Ammassalik until 1997.

The mouth of Sermilik, an 81 km fjord fed by the Helheim Glacier and others, is about 15 km west of town. Boat trips go there among the icebergs in summer.

The helicopter from Kulusuk

There is no airport in Tasiilaq. Flights land at Kulusuk, on the next island about 25 km to the east, on a gravel runway the US military built in 1956. Air Greenland flies to Kulusuk from Nuuk, and Icelandair flies there in summer from Keflavík, near Reykjavík. From Kulusuk a helicopter to Tasiilaq takes about 15 minutes and runs all year. In summer, when the ice allows, a boat makes the crossing in 30 to 45 minutes.