Northern Lights
 

Has anyone gone to Norway in the winter to see the Northen Lights?

I don't think that the Northern Lights have anything to do with winter. I saw them in SW Michigan in July and in Anchorage in September.

and you can't plan a trip around seeing the Northern lights. They are a sporadic occurence - might or might not happen during any given time . . . .

Saturngirl,

We took one of our Hurtigruten trips in winter in the hope of seeing the aurora and were lucky one night (and unlucky another as we gave up hoping and went to bed too soon).

But what is the real question you are asking?

The aurora happen throughout the year, it's just that you won't see them in summer because it's light all night.

In the end it's luck but the following seem to apply. Obviously you need a clear sky (ideally no moon and away from city lights) and the longer the night the better. Some say the best displays are seen around the Arctic Circle - further south/north may not be quite as good. Periods with high sun spot activity are best.

Michael

We saw it while on a Hurtigruten ship off Northern Norway (between Honningsvaag and Kirkenes) on New Year's day night a couple of years ago. It was at about 6:15 pm and lasted for about 15 mins. The ship's captain announced on the intercom throughout the ship it was coming up.

Thanks for the info.

the only Northern Light i ran into was in Amsterdam

Saw the Northern Lights on a flight in November from JFk to Vienna. Looked out my airplane window at about 10PM NY time, just south of Greenland. What a shock!