Northern Lights

[mom2tjanddj]

Yes, I have searched the forums before asking, and I couldn't find any good answers.

 

Where is the best place to see the Northern Lights? Time of year? I am looking to do our first Alaskan cruise. My husband and I may even spend some time off the cruise so any suggestions are really welcome. I am just beginning my planning. I have not booked any cruise yet...any suggestions there too?

 

Thank you!

Kathy

[xlxo]

Hmm.....on the Northern Lights

• not June..... In the land of the midnight sun.... it's too bright to see the Northern lights
  
• I would say September as you get less sunlight.... however you also get more storm clouds.
  
• December would be your best choice, but you won't be on a cruise ship... you will be on the ferry.
  

 

With regards to the tips on cruising in Alaska... lots of hints on the forum.

• look for Glacier Bay for glacier seekers, especially for a first time Alaskan cruiser. Holland America and Princess gets the most sailings
  
• DCL if you have young children and can afford the pixie dust premium
  
• think about which month.... May and September is cheap, June/July offer statistically dryer weather, August has the salmon migrations and bears feeding before the storms mid-month.
  
• you want extra pre/post-cruise days in Vancouver to enjoy all the tourist activities in your bonus port.
  

 

[YOUTUBE]LyOFAKRjcpo[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]CZzl0LOjRvY[/YOUTUBE][YOUTUBE]2psudTbwtdQ[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]vIvtsz1b60Q[/YOUTUBE]

Edited December 18, 2016 by xlxo

[rockdoctor]

In 7 trips to AK, we have seen the Northern Light only once. In Tok, in September. And we were underwhelmed.

[Sea Hag]

We've seen the Northern Lights in Alaska twice. Once on a cruise ship in the Inside Passage either in May or September. Can't remember which cruise it as on, so can't say the month for sure. It was around 2:00 am, which probably means it could have been either.

Other sighting was in Coldfoot in late August. That was a land trip, so doesn't answer your question at all. I just like saying that I saw the Northern Lights in Coldfoot. :D

[Glaciers]

Of course winter when it’s the darkest is the best time of year and as far north as possible. Fairbanks. We had an unusually active aurora this fall and there was even a report here on CC that someone saw them while cruising in August. Also a couple of reports in September. September would give you the best chance although a very slim one. Certainly not worth planning a cruise around. September also tends to be the rainiest which means clouds.

[TheCalicoCat]

Unfortunately planning a cruise to see the Northern Lights is akin to planning a cruise that doesn't have rain - the forecasts that far out aren't that reliable.

 

Best bet - go as far north as possible. (AKA Anchorage is possible on just the cruise ship - 14-nights on HAL Amsterdam - or Fairbanks as part of a cruise tour.)

 

Other info: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/auroraforecast

 

(We've already booked the 14-night cruise, so I will check the forecast

to

se when/if I should stay up late/get up early)

[AKStafford]

You need three things to see Northern Lights:

 

1. Dark skies
   
2. Clear skies
   
3. Aurora activity
   

So, to get dark skies you need to be in Alaska from very late August to mid-April. And you need to be away from other light sources (parking lot lights, etc... )

To get clear skies you need to be able to control the weather... People often choose Fairbanks because they tend to have clearer skies, but nothing is guaranteed. And you don't need a "cruisetour" to get to Fairbanks. You simply rent a car and Anchorage and drive yourself. Or you can grab an inexpensive flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

Aurora activity can only be predicted a day or so out and is random luck, like the weather. You can monitor aurora activity here: http://softservenews.com/

Will see Northern Lights from Ketchikan in June? Definitely not. Might you see it in mid-September? Maybe... One of the best displays I've ever seen was from Juneau. But it was in February at 1am.

[Sequim88]

Since we are heading into the minimum phase of the Solar Cycle (click on big orange image at top to enlarge) the next several years will statistically be poor for Aurora displays. 2017 will be just a couple years short of the 2020 bottom.

 

I've seen some amazing displays when we lived in MN which is as close as Alaska to the magnetic pole - or was before it started racing toward true north in 1994.

[donaldsc]

You need three things to see Northern Lights:

 

1. Dark skies
   
2. Clear skies
   
3. Aurora activity
   

So, to get dark skies you need to be in Alaska from very late August to mid-April. And you need to be away from other light sources (parking lot lights, etc... )

To get clear skies you need to be able to control the weather... People often choose Fairbanks because they tend to have clearer skies, but nothing is guaranteed. And you don't need a "cruisetour" to get to Fairbanks. You simply rent a car and Anchorage and drive yourself. Or you can grab an inexpensive flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

Aurora activity can only be predicted a day or so out and is random luck, like the weather. You can monitor aurora activity here: http://softservenews.com/

Will see Northern Lights from Ketchikan in June? Definitely not. Might you see it in mid-September? Maybe... One of the best displays I've ever seen was from Juneau. But it was in February at 1am.

 

+1 on all your comments. You are totally right. It always surprises me although it probably should not how many people come on cc and ask if they can see aurora on a southern AK cruise =. Sometimes although this does not apply to the OP they wonder if they will be able to see them in June.

 

One other thing. The OP said that they did a thorough search on aurora in CC. When I typed "aurora" as a search term on the AK board, I came up w 20 pages of hits - more than 500 of them. Thorough search??

 

DON

Edited December 19, 2016 by donaldsc

[TheCalicoCat]

Sorry, if it sounded confusing, I mentioned a cruise tour that included Fairbanks because the way I read the OP's post was that they wanted seeing Northern Lights in conjunction with a cruise. (A cruise tour being a natural extension of such.)

 

Of course, you can fly directly to Fairbanks from any number of locations. (That was not how I read the spirit of the OP's question.)

[mamasylvia]

> Thorough search??

 

Just FYI, not everyone gets the same search results. I get horrible results when I try to search. DH and I have tested this: we put the exact same search terms into Google at the same time from our separate computers which are on the same Internet connection (in the same house). He had 10 good hits while I was still wading through garbage.

 

Also, the OP referred to "Northern Lights" - he/she didn't say he/she had searched for aurora.

 

I don't remember the last time I tried using the search box here but I also came up with nothing relevant (at least in the first 100 or so results)

[bUU]

Searching the web is more art than science. My spouse and I have comparable experience with the software of searching (not as originators of search engines, but as integrators of search engines into larger systems), and yet with the same web search service on the same device we have vastly different results. My spouse seeks to interact with a search engine more conversationally, giving it context. Her searches include words about the actual object of the search ("aurora") but also why she's asking ("view" and "July") and even the words she includes in her more conversational query ("can you", "the" and "in"). I don't do that. She ends up with results that include many matches to just the context words (websites about the month of July and about the ABC talk show The View), while I end up with results about all aspects of the aurora, which I have to wade through to find one that talks about viewing the aurora in July.

[Glaciers]

I’ve used different browsers on different computers and came up with the exact same results searching “aurora”. This is searching within Cruise Critic, not Google or any other search engine.

 

This has to do with inputting “northern lights” vs “aurora”. Northern lights will bring up a bunch of different stuff that has nothing to do with the lights. Aurora will hit the topic on the head and provide much better search results. Even if the original post doesn’t mention northern lights, someone will have used the term aurora within the thread.

 

Using and knowing different keywords is important when searching for anything.

[bUU]

Alas not everyone is as skilled at choosing search terms.

[Budget Queen]

Yes, I have searched the forums before asking, and I couldn't find any good answers.

 

Where is the best place to see the Northern Lights? Time of year? I am looking to do our first Alaskan cruise. My husband and I may even spend some time off the cruise so any suggestions are really welcome. I am just beginning my planning. I have not booked any cruise yet...any suggestions there too?

 

Thank you!

Kathy

 

If a priority- I'd suggest a late August northbound cruise- then at least another 10 days, with most of that time, Denali or more north. :)

 

Rare to see aurora from a cruise ship on the inside passage.

[Tricia724]

After several tries, we finally saw the aurora this year. We had several sightings....in Coldfoot and Fairbanks and Denali. By far the best aurora we saw was viewed from the parking lot of the Denali Park Hotel where we stayed in early September.

 

I have to admit it looked different than I expected. The pictures I've seen have shown the aurora in colors of green, red, and purple. While our camera lens was able to see the green and some pink/red, our naked eyes saw mostly white....like wispy smoke or a contrail from a passing plane, although in Denali there was much more activity which produced some great pictures.

 

Since we were not there at the coldest, darkest time of the year, I'm very grateful that we had the sightings we did.