Northern lights anyone?

Has anyone here been on a quest to see Northern Lights? Yes.

Did you succeed on the first try? No, third time was the charm.

What month did you go to see them? March.

And where exactly? About 90 minutes southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The major advantage of Alaska and northern Canada over Scandinavia and Iceland is that the atmosphere is much drier. You need the perfect combination of a solar storm (This website gives you a forecast up to a few days out), dark skies (hence, winter is best), open horizons, low ambient light (outside of cities), and relatively clear skies. The Arctic regions of North America provide these conditions with far more regularity than Europe. Even still, in almost 6 weeks in Alaska, I saw the lights only three times.

Iceland, March 2011.

We took a several hours long night time bus tour to see the northern lights. The bus company allowed us to take the tour again for free on a subsequent night if we didn't see any northern lights the first time. We didn't see any lights that night and unfortunately, we were leaving the next day. The tour stopped at a rest stop/souvenir shop/restaurant and headed back to Reykjavik. Otherwise, it was just hours of sitting in a dark bus, cruising through darkness.

My daughter saw Northern Lights from northern Finland (near the Arctic Circle ) in late December -- but she was there for an academic year, not just a few days.

Iceland February 2009. Nothing. Too overcast (rained and snowed a good bit over our four days).

Iceland March 2013. We saw some lights from the plane on our overnight flight. The next night, nothing. The third night, it was glorious. Of course, this was the same time as a huge solar storm that caused Northern Lights to be see as far south as Colorado.

I have seen beautiful displays many times, but not on a quest. I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska for six years.

They do not occur every night and your chance of seeing them on a 1-or 2-night visit is very small, unless you time your visit to a period of high solar wind activity. This can be predicted a bit in advance ( maybe weeks) and the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute has a website with aurora forecasts.

Right now they are predicting high activity on August 1 for the auroral oval (high northern latitudes), but ironically it will not be dark enough to see them. In addition to the right solar activity, you need darkness (so the months of September through March are best) and clear, cloudless skies (so interior areas of North America in the US and Canada see them more frequently than Scandinavian countries with their maritime climate). You also may need to be awake in the middle of the night. On our last visit to Alaska in late August, 2012, people saw a nice display from our wilderness lodge in Denali National Park---but they happened to be up at 3 am.

If you really want to give it a try outside North America, Iceland Air offers Aurora tours to Iceland, including lodging and interesting activities as well as the potential to see the lights.

I haven't seen them, but I have friends who have seen them in Alaska and in Scotland.

Saw them in August 1970 (maybe it was 1969) in northern Wisconsin at summer camp. I slept through a beautiful display in Banff end of September a couple of years ago. . . it was on the news the next morning.

I saw them in the summer of 1981 or 82...... In Vancouver Washington. I slept in my sleeping bag in our back yard all summer waiting for them......unfortunately they aren't like "Old Faithful" and don't always show up.

Has anyone here been on a quest to see Northern Lights?
Well not really a "quest". I was working far up in northern Norway, and one evening on the way home from work I saw it. I saw it a second time as well, about 2 weeks later.

Did you succeed on the first try?
See above.

What month did you go to see them?
I think this was in January, 2011.

By the way, if you haven't already seen it, I can really recommend this site: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

Once again...you guys do not dissapointed. I wanted to take a second and say thank you.
I will investigate all your suggestions...And hopefully book a flight very, very soon for this Fall. Thanks again.

HI Val lol,
I took a trip to see the northern lights in late December, a couple of days before Christmas. I was alone too but it turns out that a couple of my study abroad classmates were there at the same time. I was in Kiruna Sweden, where the ICE hotel is.Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see the northern lights. It certainly was cold enough (-35C) but the sky was not clear during the 4 days I was there.apparently, had I been there just the night before, it was a very very clear display. I suggest looking into Finland Lapland. A group of my friends took a trip put there and the pictures of the northern lights that they took were spectacular. There's also a Santa Claus village nearby. As to what to do, you can so ice fishing, reindeer rides, dog sledding, among other things. Apparently the best place to go is Iceland. You can find really cheap flights (sometimes for $99) from the US if you plan it out well enough. Best time to go is late Jan - Feb.

How would last week in August / early September sort of time sound as far as seeing the lights in Norway region? Does cold have anything to do with it or just clear skies?
As far as timing for me it's either then our December, what would be best?
Sorry to jump into your post .. please forgive me with your info! ?

You only see the lights if the sky is clear. The rest depends on solar activity.

August is not a great time of year to see the lights because nights are still rather short. As noted above, seeing the lights involves a combination of independent circumstances converging: solar storm, darkness, clear skies. Winter gives you the best chances of all three aligning. Cold has nothing to do with it, other than the fact that long nights coincide with low temperatures.

So then .. would goinglater in the year i.e. December mean that there is more cloud cover because of worsening weather or would that happen much later into winter, Jan /Feb? What would be your pick for the month that has that trifecta of clear skies and increased night time?

I tried to see them in northern Scotland and hoped to in the UK but I failed. I heard the dark sky park in Scotland is great for it in winter though.

FYI: It's much easier to see them in North America than in Europe since the magnetic pole (which is not the same as the north pole) is centered over northern Canada.

It's much easier to see them in North America than in Europe

And the atmosphere tends to be much drier.

so if you say that it is centered over north america, does that mean the best place to see is in Canada or America? because doesnt the very middle of that circular band not see the lights?
Would you reccomend a City?

Have seen them many times. Go to Fairbanks, Alaska, in the dead of winter. Need you be reminded that it can be very cold then? You may encounter wannabe parents from Japan at that time.

I saw them by chance maybe 16 years ago in Norway just over Oslo. It was so amazing and it is the only time in my life I have ever seen anything like it. I would love to see them again. Most of the time I am in places that are a little bright to see them but Oslo is not a dark place and it happened, so I never know!