Northern Lights

[rhyfedd121]

Any chance of seeing the Northern lights anywhere in Norway in June?

[HeinBloed]

Any chance of seeing the Northern lights anywhere in Norway in June?

 

Beside the fact that June is the month when it never becomes dark in Northern Europe...

 

see here:

 

http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/

 

During the northern summer, sunlight prevents viewing the aurora at high northern latitudes. As the sun climbs in the sky until June 21st and then descends, the nights are too light to see the aurora. Because the magnetic pole is displaced toward North America, the auroral zone shown on our maps is at low enough latitudes to be seen even in the summer. Here are the rules of thumb for auroral viewing based on your latitude.

 

It's about Alaska but well explained.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Giantfan13]

That may be so, but we are living proof that there are exceptions to all rules.

 

We did an Alaskan cruise maybe 5 years ago, Vancouver to Whittier, late August. We were scheduled to fly out of Anchorage about 12:30AM. We had read on CC that if you had any chance of viewing the Northern Lights it would be from the left side of the plane, so when we checked in, we changed our seats to the left side.

During that flight we were treated to over an hour show of the Northern Lights. Even the Captain of the plane commented on how magnificent they were that night and the flight crew were also looking out at the Lights. It was an awesome show, and it really was the highlite of our vacation. The cruise was great, the ports fantastic, Anchorage was wonderful, but all we talked about, on coming home, were the Northern Lights. We have spoken to many people who live in the northern regions and many have never seen the Lights.

We were thrilled to have been able to experience this extraordinary event, and it will go down as one of the hightlites of our travels.

So, just because some say you cannot see the Northern Lights in August, we are proof you can. Yes, the factors have to be right and there has to be no moon. We hit it perfectly.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[crusinbanjo]

I don't think they turn them on until winter.... Just kidding, Seeing the northern lights in the summer months would be a very rare thing indeed. If you really want to see them the best time is to be in the far north in February, yyyyyessss iiiitttt iiissss really ccccoooolllldddd, but there are tour operators that specialize in Northern lights sightseeing.

 

Here is one link, Im sure you can find others as well. http://www.goalaskatours.com/winteractivities_northernlights.html

[TLCOhio]

Beside the fact that June is the month when it never becomes dark in Northern Europe... HeinBloed

 

THANKS for the good question and the info from HeinBloed! I would hope to be lucky this July along the Norway Coast as happened with Len. BUT, in doing more research, this comes back to back up HeinBloed being correct: "Arctic Circle marks the approximate southern boundary of the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis which can be observed on clear winter nights. This phenomenon is caused when electrically charged particles emitted by the sun are caught up in the earth's magnetic field. They then produce striking light effects in the thin ionized upper atmosphere at heights of between 40 and 620 miles."

 

I loved the line by rusinbanjo on "I don't think they turn them on until winter....". Maybe they keep them turned-off in the summer to prevent Global Warming??!!

 

Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Globaliser]

Any chance of seeing the Northern lights anywhere in Norway in June?

Leaving aside all the clever science, there are just two things to remember:-

1. You can only see the aurora when it's dark.
2. In Norway in June, it hardly gets dark at night (and in much of the country, it just doesn't get dark at all).

Even in Oslo, in the south of the country, the sun sets at about 10.45 pm and rises again at about 4.00 am. And because of the northerly latitude, the sky will remain light for a long time after sunset and will get light again a long time before sunrise.

[crusinbanjo]

I loved the line by rusinbanjo on "I don't think they turn them on until winter....". Maybe they keep them turned-off in the summer to prevent Global Warming??!!

 

Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Hi Terry:

 

That little inside joke came about from our first cruise to Alaska, 1990 on the Island Princess, (can you believe that!).... ...anyway, one rather beautiful evening, out on the deck with Theresa, this lady came up to us and asked; "When do you think they turn on the Northern Lights?" We were both flabergasted, because she was quite serious. We did however keep our composure and politely explained what the northern lights were a natural event, and not man made. We laugh about that experience to this day, everytime somebody. So in any case I hope I offended no one, with this little bit of humor.

 

BTW are you the same Terry we river cruised with last summer?

[Master Tom]

Leaving aside all the clever science, there are just two things to remember:-

1. You can only see the aurora when it's dark.
   
2. In Norway in June, it hardly gets dark at night (and in much of the country, it just doesn't get dark at all).
   

Even in Oslo, in the south of the country, the sun sets at about 10.45 pm and rises again at about 4.00 am. And because of the northerly latitude, the sky will remain light for a long time after sunset and will get light again a long time before sunrise.

 

This is Bergen June 27 last year at 02:00 in the middle of the night, 2 hours before the sun rises

Not much darkness that month around here :)

 

[TLCOhio]

Hi Terry: That little inside joke came about from our first cruise to Alaska, 1990 on the Island Princess, (can you believe that!).... ...anyway, one rather beautiful evening, out on the deck with Theresa, this lady came up to us and asked; "When do you think they turn on the Northern Lights?" We were both flabergasted, because she was quite serious. We did however keep our composure and politely explained what the northern lights were a natural event, and not man made. We laugh about that experience to this day, everytime somebody. So in any case I hope I offended no one, with this little bit of humor.

BTW are you the same Terry we river cruised with last summer?

 

THANKS for the added background! It's a cute story and phrasing.

 

Don't know whether it is bad or good news, but I'm innocent! Wasn't on any river cruise last summer. Only two cruises. We did Seabourn in June 2006 for the Greek Isles and Turkish Coast and Crystal in late July 2008 for the Baltics and Russia. Loved both. Getting ready for July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords from Copenhagen. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Northern Light]

There are many websites about Auroras but here is one that helps you know if you are in a region that could see this wonderful sight. http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Aurora/. There are other websites that show maps of solar activity and the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights.

 

We have seen Auroras in different parts of my province of Ontario, usually in August and even a mild display here in Toronto in spite of the glare of city lights. Our son had seen a wonderful display of dancing lights in Churchill, Manitoba a few years ago.

 

Sandy

[Globaliser]

We have seen Auroras in different parts of my province of Ontario, usually in August and even a mild display here in Toronto in spite of the glare of city lights. Our son had seen a wonderful display of dancing lights in Churchill, Manitoba a few years ago.

The difference, though, is that these places are a long way south. Toronto is at 43° 43' N and even Churchill is only at 58° 46' N.

 

In contrast, Oslo and Bergen (which are both in the south of Norway) are at 59°57' N and 60° 23' N respectively. That's before a cruise starts working its way up towards the north.

[donaldsc]

None to none.

 

DON

[crusinbanjo]

THANKS for the added background! It's a cute story and phrasing.

 

Don't know whether it is bad or good news, but I'm innocent! Wasn't on any river cruise last summer. Only two cruises. We did Seabourn in June 2006 for the Greek Isles and Turkish Coast and Crystal in late July 2008 for the Baltics and Russia. Loved both. Getting ready for July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords from Copenhagen. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Thanks and enjoy the cruise. this will be our first cruise in Northern Europe, although we have been in the Canadian and US Arctic areas previously. Looking forward to going!

[crusinbanjo]

THANKS for the added background! It's a cute story and phrasing.

 

Don't know whether it is bad or good news, but I'm innocent! Wasn't on any river cruise last summer. Only two cruises. We did Seabourn in June 2006 for the Greek Isles and Turkish Coast and Crystal in late July 2008 for the Baltics and Russia. Loved both. Getting ready for July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords from Copenhagen. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Not Bad, we had a fantastic River Cruise with a whole lot of wonderful and interesting folks. Enjoy the Fjords I'm told they are fantastic!

[Cruisin D]

Can anyone tell me if we will be able to see the Northern Lights in late August / early September?

 

We are on baltics cruise then.

 

Cheers

D

[donaldsc]

That may be so, but we are living proof that there are exceptions to all rules.

 

We did an Alaskan cruise maybe 5 years ago, Vancouver to Whittier, late August. We were scheduled to fly out of Anchorage about 12:30AM. We had read on CC that if you had any chance of viewing the Northern Lights it would be from the left side of the plane, so when we checked in, we changed our seats to the left side.

During that flight we were treated to over an hour show of the Northern Lights. Even the Captain of the plane commented on how magnificent they were that night and the flight crew were also looking out at the Lights. It was an awesome show, and it really was the highlite of our vacation. The cruise was great, the ports fantastic, Anchorage was wonderful, but all we talked about, on coming home, were the Northern Lights. We have spoken to many people who live in the northern regions and many have never seen the Lights.

We were thrilled to have been able to experience this extraordinary event, and it will go down as one of the hightlites of our travels.

So, just because some say you cannot see the Northern Lights in August, we are proof you can. Yes, the factors have to be right and there has to be no moon. We hit it perfectly.

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

The question was whether you can see aurora any place in Norway in June. I do not see that your answer has anything to do with the question. Wrong location and wrong date.

 

DON

[Giantfan13]

The question was whether you can see aurora any place in Norway in June. I do not see that your answer has anything to do with the question. Wrong location and wrong date.

 

DON

 

 

Since you have became the CC Police, the fist response to the OP's question was of a site that was about the alaskan Northern Lights. My 'story' related to that. Next time you see my name on a thread why don't you just skip over it, as I have many stories to tell.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[kaisatsu]

The question was whether you can see aurora any place in Norway in June. I do not see that your answer has anything to do with the question. Wrong location and wrong date.

 

DON

Technically, it is on topic, since your response was "None to None." Len's anecdote serves to refute your incorrect answer by demonstrating that there are always extremely unlikely circumstances that differ from the norm. Hence your answer should have been "Extremely slim to None."

 

After all, in southern Norway it does get rather dark for an hour around 2am even on the summer solstice, and on very rare occasions (incidentally, Monday was one of them) you can see the Northern Lights this far south in the country. Thus, with those two facts combined, you probably do have a 1:1,000,000,000,000 chance of seeing the Northern Lights on a summer cruise of the coast. Perhaps you just rounded that to "None." ;)

 

PS - You are quite the cynic! Are you a troll? :)

[donaldsc]

Since you have became the CC Police, the fist response to the OP's question was of a site that was about the alaskan Northern Lights. My 'story' related to that. Next time you see my name on a thread why don't you just skip over it, as I have many stories to tell.

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

I too have seen Northern Lights at an unusual time - on a cruise to Alaska in late August. I saw them about midnight on a clear dark night. They were cool.

 

However, as the question from the OP was totally unrelated to my Alaska story, I did not feel that it was relevant to the discussion to answer the question with information that had nothing to do with the OP's question.

 

My answer of "none and none" is still the only correct answer for a different location where the sky never gets really dark in June.

 

DON

[kaisatsu]

My answer of "none and none" is still the only correct answer for a different location where the sky never gets really dark in June.

But the location asked about by the OP does get dark. The question said "anywhere in Norway" and there are plenty of places in Norway that "get really dark in June." Oslo and Bergen have at least an hour of darkness every night in June. Stavanger has 2 hours. Kristiansand has 3 hours.

[JandBR_PHX]

After all, in southern Norway it does get rather dark for an hour around 2am even on the summer solstice, and on very rare occasions (incidentally, Monday was one of them) you can see the Northern Lights this far south in the country.

 

Thank you, Kaisatsu, for all of the great info on Oslo and pre-answering my question about Northern Lights - we'll be in Oslo on 5/5, if the volcano behaves. Fingers crossed that we'll see the Aurora.

[FreewayFortune]

Thank you, Kaisatsu, for all of the great info on Oslo and pre-answering my question about Northern Lights - we'll be in Oslo on 5/5, if the volcano behaves. Fingers crossed that we'll see the Aurora.

I hope you do. I've only seen them from Northern Ontario in early-late spring and the late fall. And if you see them from Norway you'll get to see more of the colours. I've only seen the white lights. They are definately one of natures beautiful offerings.

 

And I hope the volcano behaves. I'm hoping it's still behaving in July:)