Key factors for planning your northern lights trip

Many people yearn to witness the beauty brought about by the dancing display of the northern lights. There are necessary factors that you need in place to make your dream come true as it requires knowledge and patience to catch the beautiful display. The northern lights mostly appear in the northern Polar Regions in the aurora oval, which is situated straight inside the middle of the oval, and Lapland is the most preferred place for you to observe the northern lights.

The weather

For one to be able to encounter the darkness of the northern light is required as to make it happen, and between the month of April to end of August, there is darkens in the skies that will enable you to witness the aurora display. Presence of clouds can spoil the encounter, and the northern lights forecast can give an update regularly for when the sky will be clear and changes in wind directions.

The weather conditions in Lapland are not predictable, and it is important to depend on the tour operators who can decide for you the best time for you to go for your night hunt. If you are planning to go for the adventure on your own, then it is important that you keep on checking on chances of clear skies before you begin the aurora adventure.

Solar activity and the KP index

The display that you will get depends on the aurora borealis display that is determined by the solar activities. There is an instrument called KP index that has a scale from 0 to 9 and the higher the number recorded, the higher shall the aurora activity, and it implies the better the chances of witnessing fast dancing lights with different colours.

This instrument just offers predictions, but it is not a guarantee that the northern lights must occur. However, the presence of the sun may lower the KP scale reading to 2 or 3 due to the emission of solar particles that can make you encounter good northern lights. Our service offers a 6-hour northern lights forecast which tells you the KP index combined with a rough weather forecast. Remember this it is only a forecast which is not accurate and does not tell you when northern lights are actually visible.

Luckily our service offers an app that alerts when the lights are currently visible in the sky!

Light pollution

Light pollution is another factor that plays a vital role for the northern lights to occur. The far a person will be from any kind of light pollution, will one increase the chances of experiencing the aurora borealis. Therefore it is advisable for you to leave the city and get deep into the rugged and vast Icelandic nature where the real adventure starts.

Moonlight

You have to know that presence of moonlight creates pollution as well, and it is appropriate you choose a time where there is little or no moon. Moreover, dust particles and the presence of electrical illumination can make it difficult for one to see the aurora lights, as the eyes tend to process it rather being too faint and not colourful.

The other alternative for you to experience the incidence is to take a tour guide along with you as they will do their best to ensure that they have achieved the best catch for you and making it a really unique experience for you.