Can I see Aurora Borealis from Norway or Sweden?
I am going to Norway and Sweden late March and want to see the Northern lights/Aurora Borealis. Unfortunately I am going to be in the southern parts near Bergen and Stockholm respectively. What are the chances I can see the Northern lights from these locations OR is there anywhere close to those locations that I would be able to travel to and see the lights?
Other - Europe - 6 Answers
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1 :
Yeh well i personally saw it when i was in Norway :)
2 :
Well you'll have less of a chance of seeing them, the farther south you are, so if its a must to see them, i'd start looking for places to travel farther north.
3 :
You have to go to the north. I would recommend you the Ice hotel in Sweden that is the biggest Ice hotel in the world. You can see aurora from there, while sleeping in -5°C :) Can be funny experience. http://www.best-of-european-union.eu/2011/03/03/biggest-ice-hotel-in-the-world-sleep-well-in-5-c-sweden/
4 :
Yes, the northernmost Sweden/Norway are your best bets, completely away from disturbing city lights, though then again, as the daylight time is already increasing, it might be a bit too late to see them (plus that they cannot be predicted). Usually the best viewing time is between November and February.
5 :
Reality time...you will have very little chance of seeing the northern lights even in northern Norway and even less chance in Bergen or Stockholm. March is getting a bit late...the night sky doesn't get very dark and it gets lighter at night the further north you go. Bergen and Stockholm are too far south and Bergen is mostly cloudy anyway. and gets very wet. See the answer below for someone who get lost because of low cloud....on a well marked and very popular circular walk around Vidden, just beside Bergen. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100725104545AA9RGPq . . . .. Forget the 'Norway is good for Northern Lights' story....it's not the best at the moment and only the far north is good. Norway's tourist program has been very successful in spreading the northern lights story but Alaska and Canada have more sightings of aurorae than Norway does. They also have aurora hotels and mobile phone and email alerts as Finland has too but do you hear of them? This is for Aurora Kota and nearby attractions in Finland http://www.activitiesabroad.com/holidays/69/searching-for-the-aurora-borealis . .. Canada has a good aurora alert service and so have Alaska Finland, Norway and Sweden. http://corona-gw.phys.ualberta.ca/AuroraWatch/ Canada also now has the AuroraMAX camera online...use the links on here. http://www.techeye.net/internet/canadians-say-watch-the-northern-lights-online-eh . . Norway is very beautiful and is well worth a visit, but not specifically to see the lights just yet, which are happening there only rarely as in Sweden. For two years there were none at all....not even one in the entire world.. The Sun was unusually quiet for a long time. It's waking up but aurorae are still not common It can't be absolutely ruled out...but the chances are very small that you'll see one in any particular week for the coming month in Scandinavia.or when the sky is dark enough again in November, though it may be a bit better then than it is now. Here is the current Auroral Oval map from satellite data....for today. It's biased toward Canada and Alaska as it has been for a long time and will be for a long time yet because the magnetic pole is that side of the axial pole. Russia is at the top of the map and Scandinavia is to the right in the light blue bit. Mid blue is Zero. Yellow shows low power energetic particles, generally not powerful enough or in insufficient quantities to produce an aurora bright enough to see though there is a small chance of seeing one in very dark skies..... http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html . . . . Bad eh? In a couple of years it could be a lot better.....solar maximum is 2013...but right now it's bleak so just enjoy the landscape and the people you meet. You've got some great times coming up, even without the northern lights. Aurora Q two weeks ago...same sad story for aurora watchers. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110228011322AAZUN4o . . . .
6 :
You'd increase the chances a lot by going north, where March is actually said to be the best month for watching aurora, but you could better read and digest the information from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and then make your own conclusions and decisions: http://www.irf.se/Popular/?docid=1132 http://www.irf.se/Popular/?chosen=popular http://www.irf.se/Observatory/?link[All-sky%20camera]=Aurora_sp_statistics http://flare.lund.irf.se/rwc/aurora/
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