9/27/07

Ok, time to reveal your secrets!

Dear fellow northern bloggers.
I would like to see the Aurora, but I don't want to freeze my butt off on a night when they aren't active/energetic or whatever people say when they mean really vibrant.
Is there a website I can visit that will tell me this, or do I just go and look out my window? What time of night are they most visible?
Thanks!

4 comments:

jen September 27, 2007 at 5:20 PM  

There is a website, you can search for it though. It's just like weather, you can check for it, but it might not play out like the forecast says. Here are a few tips for good nights to look... it can't be cloudy or snowing. There are strong lights according to when the sun is having "storms". Look that bit up online...much too lazy to do it myself. Once your southern entertainment taste buds are dulled by living here, you will enjoy sitting around outside, just for the purpose of seeing the lights. The thing is you might catch them one night, but their brightness fluctuates, so the only real way to get a good look is to put on the Canada goose, grab a travel mug of hot chocolate and go chill outside...preferably outside of town...and not by yourself.

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan September 27, 2007 at 7:09 PM  

Okay- they are always the most vibrant an hour after you go to bed. Because the next day someone will say, "Hey, did you see the northern lights last night at midnight?" and I say, "No, I went to bed at 11". It always works this way. Always.

jen September 27, 2007 at 8:49 PM  

Amen Kara!! For me it's I only seem to have my camera when the lights are at their crappiest. I will see this explosion of light across the sky, and my camera will be out of reach or of out of juice.

Rob, Tina and the boys September 27, 2007 at 9:35 PM  

I was going to post this on my blog but kept forgetting. We are totally addicted to this site. Take a peek at http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/auroraforecast/. You'll see on the right side it says "Short term forecast". Subtract 7 hours from the time they say. They seem to be the brightest between 10-1. Take a peek at our pictures from the first night we saw them and you'll see what I mean. Now, we are only 1 hour away from Yellowknife which from what I hear is the "Aurora capitol". They're out right now if you're reading this now! :)