Northern Lights
 

I'm not even sure where to post this. I put one of these in the Canada forum, too.

If you wanted to take a trip to see the Northern Lights, if that was the #1 priority of your trip, where would you go, and when?

I'd really like to see the Northern Lights but I have read they are unpredictable. It would be nice to pick a place where there was a high likelihood of seeing them but was otherwise interesting in case they don't appear.

Scotland? Iceland?

Any ideas?

I saw them in Alaska and in Canada.

Alaska and Canada in the winter.

I think I used to see them in the 50's in Spokane, Washington. Now that the city is built up to the north, I don't see them. I suspect one would see them better in an area away from city lights.

The farther north you go, the more frequent the displays of the Northern Lights become. I've seen decent displays in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, but they are infrequent. I've seen them on transatlantic night flights to Europe from the U.S. (Sit on the left side of the aircraft as it faces forward on the flight over.) Iceland has quite a few annual displays, but there are no guarantees because there are active and quiet periods for the Aurora Borealis and you can also miss it because of cloudy skies. I saw a very nice display there during a March visit. If I was intent on seeing the Northern Lights, I would probably choose Iceland or Alaska.

Living ten years in Sweden didn't provide too often views of the Northern Lights. Maybe I might have seen them no more than five.

In Canada provided a good show but maybe once or twice per the year. Minnesota gave good show often when I was a boy.

I normally saw this in the summer evenings but being up in Sweden, the sun was blazing most of the time.

It's best to visit someplace which will give you a good vacation and maybe you'll get a bonus.

Blackduff

The northern lights are EXTREMELY unpredictable. Planning a vacation with that as your number-one priority is a huge risk.

For instance, I live in the far northern part of the lower 48 states and a good, strong aurora borealis is still something to wake the kids up for.

You'll increase your chances of seeing them by getting way, way out town to reduce the light pollution that might cause you to miss a mild show altogether, and go in the winter, when they're more common.

I'm with Blackduff here. Plan a great vacation and if you happen to see the northern lights on purpose, call it a happy bonus.

That said, they're well worth seeing. Good luck!

I saw the Northern Lights from the left side (port side) of the plane on an overnight flight from O'Hare to Malpensa. Good patterns but not much color variability. I spoke with the pilot after we landed and he said that the intensity was good but he had seen much more spectacular colors. I watched 'em out my little window for about an hour.

A friend of mine claims that the best time to seem them is around the solstices. He photographed some outside Fairbanks, Alaska about ten years ago.

I went to Greenland in January to see the Northern Lights. We stayed up for most of two nights and saw them shimmering all night from our hotel room in Ilullisat. Incredible!

Ironically, when we were in Kangerlussqaq, where there is a Northern Lights research center, it was too cloudy to see them. But Kangerlussqaq is "easier" to get to, since it's the international airport where the one daily flight into the country (which is from Denmark) arrives.

I have been in Jukkasjarvi in Sweden, above the North pole circle and where the Ice Hotel is. For the 3 days that we were there, we saw no Northern light, and I heard that the night after we left they had splendid Northern light. So if even above the North pole circle you're not sure to get it, I don't know if you can be sure anywhere !

Northern Lights displays peak together with solar activity - sunspot maxima, solar storms etc.The farther north, the more likely you are to see them.

I saw them several times when I was living in Newfoundland and they were stunning and as you have heard, they can be totally unpredictable and even when they "appear" actually seeing them will depend on whether or not there is an "undercast" the amount of ambient light, etc.

Perhaps up in Yellowknife or Alaska which might be a bit easier to reach than Greenland..although you do not tell us where you would be coming from.

I wish you good luck on this - grew up in Wisconsin and my dad would wake us up for the Northern Lights. It's comparable to the thrill of seeing the Southern Cross for the first time.

The "best" place would be one that has clear skies at the time an aurora happens to appear. As noted, the occurance of the northern lights is highly unpredictable, especially far in advance; it depends on such things as sunspots and solar wind. There are numerous websites, from various northern lands, that give predictions for the coming month or so, such as this one for Alaska:
http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/

I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the skies are generally clear in winter, for a number of years. One or two of those winters the aurora was very active and we saw it frequently. Other years, hardly at all.

If you want to plan a trip somewhere you would otherwise find interesting on the off chance that one will occur while you are there, Iceland or Norway might be good choices. But before you commit to spending a winter week someplace in the far north in hopes of seeing it, you should read Bill Bryson's amusing account of the time he spent in Hamarfest, Norway, fruitlessly waiting to see one. It's in his book "Neither Here nor There".

We saw a lengthy and beautiful display of Northern Lights several years ago in the UP of Michigan in August.

We were later told that the display followed some unusual solar storm activity.

Whatever, it was an unexpected and unforgettable experience. I wish you luck in heppening upon this phenomenon.

"Oh roar a roar for Nora,
Nora Alice in the night,
For she has seen Aurora Borealis burning bright."

---Songs from the Pogo, by Walt Kelly

Byrd

Uh oh, it looks like this is going to be more complicated than I originally thought. Thank you all for the suggestions and advice. And sorry I left out my origination point. That would be Decatur, Georgia, USA. I am going to look at all the links and references you provided, see if I can come up with a plan.

I just would really really like to see them. It's just one of those things.

Don't be discouraged - they're absolutely worth the effort. Just rare, which probably explains why they're worth the effort!

Continuing Walt's verse:

A furor for our Nora
And applaud Aurora seen,
For where throughout the summer
Has our Borealis been?

I like the poem, Byrd and Laverendrye.

I haven't thought about Pogo in a long time.

Olive Oil

I live in Shetland and have seen them a few times.