Finally after many months of trying to see the Northern Lights for the first time I had success last night! It was cloudy and misty and cold on the beach but well worth staying out late in to the night to witness even just this faintest of glimpses. Both magenta and green colours were visible through the haze and scudding clouds.
Further up the coast the sky was crystal clear and some excellent shots were taken.
How did I know there was a chance to see them?
The Aurorawatch app run by Lancaster University kept pinging up alerts throughout the day to say that there was a slim chance, well, it turned out to be one of the best of the year so far!
The higher the number listed, the greater the chance of a sighting.
Aurorawatch is a free download for both Android and iPhone and also available on the web at: http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/
There’s also a useful mapping tool and probability checker http://www.softservenews.com/gps-aurora-borealis-forecast.html, take note that this is the likelihood of the Northern Lights being directly overhead. It said 0% for my location last night but I still saw them by looking North.
To view the Aurora, you must head to somewhere dark and as far away from artificial light pollution. The winter months are the best time to see them due to the darker and longer nights.
Iceland has been on my must visit list for a long time, I can’t wait to see them at their full strength.
Once seen, never forgotten.