Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Get Aurora Borealis

Animal Crossing New Horizons is a game that you can play over a very long period of time, especially as the seasons change and there are new things to look forward to. The winter season, in particular, presents a huge visual change for the game. Here’s how to get the aurora borealis, or northern lights, in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

Getting Aurora Borealis in Animal Crossing New Horizons

The aurora borealis effect only occurs during the winter season of the game, which means that at the time of writing, you can either get it through time traveling or if your island is in the southern hemisphere. It’ll also only appear during the nighttime, from 7 p.m. onward –the same time period as Celeste’s spawn and possible meteor showers and shooting stars.

The thing to note about the aurora borealis effect is that it’s completely random and will only last for a short while. It has a chance of occurring during nights where you have a possible meteor shower pattern, but it’ll only last for one or two hours before it disappears. So if you’re hoping to capture some pretty photos or screenshots with it as your background, you’ll need to do so quickly before it goes away.

Outside of that, there’s not much else to know about the effect. Once the winter season is over, it’ll no longer occur on your island and you’ll have to wait for the next winter to come around again. This effect is purely cosmetic and does not seem to have any impact whatsoever on gameplay mechanics or other systems, so you shouldn’t worry too much about missing out on it either.

That’s all you need to know about how to get the northern lights or aurora borealis effect in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Be sure to check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.