Northern Lights holidays

[bcngran]

We are constrained by school term times. When/where is best to go with a teenager so as to have a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights? Teenager skis and is pretty adventurous - two adults less so, (and we dont ski). All of us just want to see the Aurora. Does anyone have any advice?

@XelaM Terri the Glendale app. It is very good and user friendly for those of us that don't really get the technical stuff.

Like other apps there are different levels of alert. Green is nothing happening, yellow there might be activity really far north eg far north Scotland and Arctic circle, Amber will be north, Scotland and maybe North England not probably showing on camera only. Red is visible by eye in North England and by camera quite far down into England.

But this is only a probability, it isn't a guarantee. You'll get alerts in the day too because they go from data around the effects that cause the aurora which happens in the day aswell, you just can't see it. Alerts are based on the time they are given and not a prediction of what might happen later so a Red alert in the day doesn't mean it will still be Red that night, activity might have dropped right down again.

Where the Glendale app is useful is that users can input sightings so you can tell in real time who is seeing it where.

Thank you! I have now installed the Glendale app as well. Are there any tours/tour guides in Scotland anyone can recommend? I couldn't find anything when I tried google. We will be in the Aviemore area, but willing to travel further North.

@HappyBook do you remember the tour company you used to see the lights? I have Tromso on my list, had it all planned out for December 2020 and we all know what happened then!

@Isabelle70 we used a Company called Chasing Lights. They’ve got a little shop where you meet in the centre of Tromso, but I think they’re on line too. I would really recommend Tromso. Lovely place. Wish we’d stayed longer. Please let me know if you’ve got any questions and I’ll do my best to help.

Anyone prepared to say where is the best chance of seeing them Iceland, Tromso or Finland?

We are off to Tromsø in February half term - fingers and toes crossed for the aurora, although we are actually going for other reasons!

In terms of latitude there's probably not much to choose, in terms of cloud cover I'll offer these websites:

weatherspark.com/y/84211/Average-Weather-in-Troms%C3%B8-Norway-Year-Round

weatherspark.com/y/31501/Average-Weather-in-Reykjav%C3%ADk-Iceland-Year-Round

weatherspark.com/y/92829/Average-Weather-in-Rovaniemi-Finland-Year-Round

(scroll to the cloud section for a precis and you can probably tinker to get exact location of where you might stay.).

Have to say it but when I was part of a widespread group that used to dabble in observing aurora the observer who consistently got the highest number of sightings a years was nowhere near any of the above - he was based in North Dakota - nicely located in terms of the auroral optimum latitudes and he also got a very high percentage of clear nights per year.

www.thefreelibrary.com/Jay+Brausch%3A+Observer+extraordinaire.-a0131072838

HTH and good luck wherever you choose to go.

We were much further north than Rovaniemi in Finland, in Utjotski - no light pollution and iirc I think the guide said less cloudy than some places.

@notimagain thanks so much for this information - excited !

@XelaM attached a picture of the change on aurora watch. I got a notification on my phone last night at 7 when it changed to yellow - visible by eye (I'm in the far north of Scotland and rural so no light pollution) and better with camera. When it changes to Amber, it'll be more spectacular by eye.
Where in Scotland are you going? Really most visible from the far north - get inland or away from settlements so no light pollution. Tours/guides for northern lights aren't really a thing here, you'd be reliant on yourself.

Forgot the picture.

@LarryStylinson Thank you! We are going to Aviemore for the February half term week, but I'm very willing to travel further North once we're there. Does the app give the exact location of the red alerts aside from "North Scotland"? I would really love to hire someone local to give us more of a shot of actually seeing the lights (I know it's very unlikely)

@XelaM

Does the app give the exact location of the red alerts aside from "North Scotland"?

That's pretty much as much accuracy as you need...the aurora are generated way way up in the upper atmosphere and are visible over potentially hundreds of miles as long as you are far enough north with clear dark skies etc.

Thank you! I read that the Moray Coast is a place where you can sometimes see them. That's not too far from Aviemore. If a red alert ever comes whilst we're there, I just want to make sure I actually know where to go for a possible sighting. 😃

@XelaM I'm 3 hours north of Aviemore for reference. I'll have a look and see if there's any sort of guides or anything. I've a friend down that way too so have popped them a message to see if they've any tips on good areas for sightings

There might be stuff of interest to some here.

britastro.org/sections/aurora-nlc

Appended to at least some of the images are locations (e.g. Elgin, Lossiemouth) and also details of the photography (old fashioned stuff like shutter speeds, f stops, and ISO numbers )..

This is interesting thanks @notimagain.

I’m not sure what you mean about the ‘old fashioned stuff’ on cameras - those settings all exist on modern, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras!

I’m not sure what you mean about the ‘old fashioned stuff’ on cameras - those settings all exist on modern, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras!

I do know, that was said slightly in jest....

Though TBH I'm not sure my kids (who take great images on their smartphones) would know the difference between an f-stop and an emoji...(thinks..I'm not sure what as emoji is either)...

Ah the joke went over my head @notimagain 😂

Agree with @LarryStylinson Caithness, Scottish Highlands is a sound bet if you are wanting to view from UK. February half term may well be a good time as they are fab just now.

Thank you soo much! Very willing to travel further North within Scotland for a night

We took our teens Oct half term just gone to Iceland and were really lucky and saw a fantastic display. We booked an excursion on a small tour bus from Reykjavik and most companies advise booking on your first night in case of bad weather and cancellations, you will have the most chance of seeing them. Some companies will even take you out again if they have space and you didn’t see them.

Ours was cancelled the first night but we went on the second night and our guide said that they were about as magnificent as they get and that this usually happens about twice a month, so it really is the luck of the draw.

Our ‘aurora’ forecast was really low when we headed out as well so we wasn’t expecting to find any at all and he said they are v inaccurate (probably worse if you have a great forecast then don’t see a single thing!).

These photos were taken on an iphone and cameras do pick up the green more. To the naked eye, it is a lighter green, sometimes lighter red (or even white when they are not as bright). When we saw them at their brightest they moved and danced around too like a curtain blowing in the wind. Absolutely amazing and even our teens were impressed !