How to See the Northern Lights When Solar Storms Hit

Yet, for most people, seeing an aurora remains a matter of sheer good fortune.

As the Sun moves into an especially active period, a seasoned northern lights hunter believes luck should matter far less. With suitable tools, good timing and the right attitude, he says people across mid-latitude countries can be prepared when the next solar storm arrives.

Why solar storms are about to change your night sky

Geomagnetic activity in January offered a striking reminder that the northern lights are not solely an Arctic attraction. People from northern France to Scotland and areas of the northern US walked into their gardens to find green and purple light throbbing across the sky.

The solar cycle drives these displays. Approximately every 11 years, activity on the Sun increases, producing more solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These events hurl charged particles towards Earth. As the particles strike our planet’s magnetic field, they are channelled towards the poles, creating auroras.

During strong solar storms, the auroral oval expands, and regions that almost never see northern lights can suddenly be under the glow.

Professional guides in Lapland are very familiar with this cycle. They describe this winter as “busy but brilliant”, with regular, lengthy displays that have sometimes extended from one horizon to the other.

The mindset of an aurora hunter

Rather than behaving like tourists, professional aurora chasers operate much like weather forecasters. They follow solar readings all day, monitor local cloud conditions and make plans well before sunset.

A hunter based in Lapland says he can “almost” rely on seeing auroras on most clear nights at high latitudes, but stresses that genuine success still depends on being prepared.

Auroras are predictable enough that you can stack the odds heavily in your favour, but unpredictable enough that you still need patience.

He consults short-range aurora probability maps that draw on live solar-wind data. On a rotating global map, these indicate where the best chances will be over the following 25–50 minutes. When organising longer trips, he also reviews three-day forecasts, while recognising that they are less precise and can be disrupted by particularly fast CMEs.

Reading the sky: from three days to thirty minutes

Short-term forecasts: your real secret weapon

For aurora watchers, the most dependable planning period is generally less than an hour. Space-weather observation satellites, including DSCOVR, sit upstream of Earth in the solar wind. They measure the speed, density and magnetic orientation of approaching particles.

Forecasting tools use this information to assess when those particles will reach Earth’s magnetic field and how intense the resulting geomagnetic disturbance could become.

• Find nowcast maps that refresh every 5–10 minutes.
• Review them throughout the evening rather than checking just once.
• Combine them with a cloud-cover forecast for your location.

If the map indicates a surge above your area within the next half-hour and skies are clear or beginning to clear, it is time to put on your coat.

Multi-day outlooks: great for trips, not for the exact hour

Three-day aurora maps use observed sunspots and recent solar eruptions to help identify the nights worth watching. They cannot, however, tell you the precise minute a display will begin above your home.

In a recent major solar storm, particles moved so rapidly that they arrived at Earth in roughly 24 hours, sooner than standard forecasts had anticipated. Longer-range tools fell behind events as they unfolded. Once the eruption had begun, only short-range maps and live solar-wind readings provided dependable guidance.

Picking the perfect spot when the storm hits

Even an exceptionally strong storm will be wasted if you are standing in the wrong location. Choosing where to watch is an aurora hunter’s understated advantage.

The right field in the right direction will beat a famous landmark bathed in bright city lights, every single time.

The golden rules of location

• Escape light pollution: Get away from towns, industrial areas and motorways. A drive of only 15–20 minutes can transform the view.
• Seek open horizons: Level fields, lakesides, coastlines and hilltops offer broad views northwards.
• Check the northern view: At mid-latitudes, auroras usually first appear low in the northern sky. Ensure that trees and buildings do not obscure it.
• Watch the moon phase: A bright full Moon can wash out faint detail, although powerful auroras may still shine through.

In places such as Lapland, guides often scout dozens of lay-bys, frozen lakes and small clearings in advance. When cloud arrives, they already know which road or valley is statistically clearer or drier. The same approach applies in the UK and northern US: identify two or three dark-sky sites in different directions, allowing you to respond as cloud cover shifts.

Gear and settings: what you really need

No specialist equipment is needed to see auroras with the naked eye. However, a handful of basic items can greatly improve your chances of spotting and photographing them.

Item	Why it matters
Warm clothing	Waiting for long periods in the cold is common, and discomfort can cut your night short.
Headlamp with red mode	Preserves your night vision while you walk or set up equipment.
Tripod	Holds the camera steady during exposures lasting several seconds.
Fast lens (f/1.4–f/2.8)	Admits more light, helping to record colour and structure.
Spare batteries	Low temperatures drain batteries rapidly, particularly below zero.

For aurora photography, guides recommend beginning with a shutter speed of 5–10 seconds, a fully open aperture and ISO between 1600 and 6400, then altering the settings according to the brightness and motion. Rapidly moving, dancing curtains require shorter exposures, otherwise they can become a green blur.

From France to the Midwest: who should be paying attention?

When auroras come to mind, most people imagine Norway, Iceland or Alaska. However, recent storms have demonstrated that France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, northern parts of the US and Canada can all experience rare yet unforgettable displays during powerful geomagnetic storms.

Any country sitting between roughly 45° and 60° latitude occasionally falls under the auroral oval during intense events.

As the present solar cycle nears its peak, this gives more people than ever a reason to monitor solar forecasts during the next few years.

For viewers far from the poles, managing expectations is important. On some nights, only a faint green arc may be visible low on the northern horizon, and it may appear more clearly in a camera image than to the eye. In the largest storms, however, the whole sky may illuminate with pillars, rays and even unusual purple edges, produced by interactions with ionised nitrogen high in the atmosphere.

What actually makes the colours and shapes?

Auroras may seem magical, but their underlying physics is remarkably tangible. Charged particles from the Sun collide with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere. These particles absorb energy before emitting it as light.

• Green commonly comes from oxygen around 100–150 km above Earth.
• Red is associated with oxygen at greater heights, where the atmosphere is thinner.
• Purple and pink shades usually indicate excited or ionised nitrogen.

Their forms – arcs, curtains and spirals – follow invisible magnetic field lines that run down through the atmosphere. Swift changes in incoming solar wind can cause the lights to ripple, pulse or burst overhead in seconds.

Risks, myths and what solar storms actually do

Although strong solar storms can be spectacular, they pose no danger to the average sky watcher. Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect people on the ground from the particles themselves.

The genuine weak points are technological. Major geomagnetic storms may interfere with satellite operations and radio communications and, in extreme circumstances, generate currents in long power lines. Electricity-grid operators and satellite controllers follow the same space-weather information as aurora hunters, albeit for entirely different purposes.

A number of enduring myths persist. Despite old stories, auroras do not produce audible sounds in normal conditions. They also have no direct effect on human mood or behaviour, though the awe they inspire is undeniably real. Nor are they exclusive to the Arctic: in severe storms, the southern hemisphere has its equivalent display, the aurora australis, visible across southern New Zealand, Tasmania and parts of southern Australia.

Turning the next storm into your first real aurora night

For anyone who wants to witness the next outburst rather than see it later on social media, the formula is reasonably simple: monitor solar forecasts, choose dark viewing places beforehand, watch cloud maps and be prepared to remain outside in the cold longer than seems sensible.

Aurora guides, including the veteran Lapland hunter, give guests the same understated advice: see every clear night as a possibility rather than a promise. The Sun is expected to send many storms over the coming years. People ready when alerts appear on their phones will be the ones returning indoors at 3 a.m., cold but smiling, carrying a memory that lasts longer than any photograph.