Northern Lights in March

[Belle Belle]

My husband and I are considering a March 2024 16-night cruise to Norway that includes overnight stays in Honningsvag, Alta, and Tromso. Our main objective is to see the lights.  What is the likelihood that we will have sightings on excursions? Thanks for any input.

[Nitemare]

Depends on how clear the skies are and whether the lights are "on".  We've spent 5 nights in Iceland in March and 7 more in September with no luck.  We had full days planned and had two great trips

 

Some folks get many nights in a row with shows. Some get none.  Lights should be considered a bonus, have plans during the day and hope you get a show at night, too.

[hallasm]

March is generally a good month for Northern Lights. With an overnight stay in Honningsvåg, Alta, and Tromsø, and with possible excursions to areas with fewer clouds there should be a very good opportunity.  
The best northern lights I have seen from ships in this area.

[TheOldBear]

This past November QM2 did a one and a half overnight in Tromso. I did the ships northern lights bus tour on the second night [the ship sailed just after the tour returned].

 

There was about 50% cloud cover with intermittent showers [more likely to be snow flurries in march?]. There was a problem with ambient light due to a nearly full moon. You never really got dark adapted.

 

A local guide directed the bus to what should be a favorable location - and we pulled over and bailed out when the aurora was visible through the bus windshield. The cloud cover was mostly in our favor, blocking some of the moonlight. After about 45 minutes at the first location, we went to another likely spot. By then there was less cloud cover/more moonlight so it was difficult to see aurora with the naked eye. I would point my camera in a likely direction and take a fairly long exposure. Most of the time on review there would be some aurora colors - other times it would just be a high cloud illuminated by moonlight.

 

[hallasm]

2 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

other times it would just be a high cloud illuminated by moonlight.

 Clouds cannot be predicted, but it may be a good idea to check the moon phase

[Belle Belle]

3 minutes ago, hallasm said:

 Clouds cannot be predicted, but it may be a good idea to check the moon phase

The vernal equinox is March 19, and I've read that there an increased likelihood of seeing the lights. The full moon is March 25. 

[Nitemare]

Lights don't care about things like the Equinox.  Easier to see at New Moon than at full, just due to the relative darkness.  But the other thing doesn't mean a thing

[hallasm]

9 minutes ago, Nitemare said:

Lights don't care about things like the Equinox.

Earth's magnetic field steers the charged particles towards the poles. Spring and autumn Equinoxes (around 20 March and 20 September) is actually told to have greater Northern Lights activity, not because there are more solar activities during this period, but due to the Earth's angle relative to the Sun the magnetic field does not protect the Earth quite as well.

[Nitemare]

19 hours ago, hallasm said:

Earth's magnetic field steers the charged particles towards the poles. Spring and autumn Equinoxes (around 20 March and 20 September) is actually told to have greater Northern Lights activity, not because there are more solar activities during this period, but due to the Earth's angle relative to the Sun the magnetic field does not protect the Earth quite as well.

I have read this before but I have never seen evidence of better shows because of it beyond anecdotal "one offs". 

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, Nitemare said:

I have read this before but I have never seen evidence of better shows because of it beyond anecdotal "one offs". 

You are right - but many official Aurora websites show statistics on how many sights there are each month. Just one example.

[Nitemare]

Claims of sights in May thru August make me scratch my head

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Nitemare said:

Claims of sights in May thru August make me scratch my head

The graph shows geomagnetically disturbed days, not aurora sightings.

[hallasm]

22 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The graph shows geomagnetically disturbed days, not aurora sightings.

Thank you for the clarification - solar storms all year however not possible to the Northern lights when the sky is not dark.