September 2023

September 2nd

Aurora for myself
Just came home whis day, and Lady Aurora wish me welcome on my beach ...

September 6th

Guests / Country: 12 guests from Germany, China, Chile, Israel, Taiwan, Australia and Norway (1 new guide).
Weather Tromsø: Rain / cloudy.
Destination / weather: Skibotndalen valley / Keinovuopio, Finland / part clear.
Aurora activity: 0/10.
Aurora show: No activity!
Tour km: 370.
Tour hrs: 7,5.
Wildlife: One fox and four rabbits.

One of these nights ... but, from zero it goes only one way ...
The activity begin late this night around 2.30 am, but then we was on the drive back to the city in the clouds.

September 7th

Guests / Country: 7 guests from Germany, China, Malaysia, Brasil and Norway (one new guide).
Weather Tromsø: Rain / cloudy.
Destination / weather: Lake Kilpis, Finland / part clear.
Aurora activity: 4/10.
Aurora show: A couple of ribbons across the sky, curtains and little dancing in two colors, between the clouds.
Tour km: 350.
Tour hrs: 7.

Tonight was only one thing to do ... head stright back to Finland where the best clear sky was.

We missed the first show with 20 mins, but got the last one with little dancing in two colors ... then we was waiting for a last show, but the cloud layer came in too fast ...

September 8th

Guests / Country: 15 guests from Germany, Taiwan, India, Brasil, Australia, USA and Norway (two new guides).
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Skibotndalen valley / Finnish border / part clear.
Aurora activity: 0/10.
Aurora show: No activity!
Tour km: 310.
Tour hrs: 6,5.
Wildlife: 3 baby foxes

Not so funny start of this season ... While last season start was just amazing with several great nights in the beginning, this years September has started quiet ...

It was Aurora activity from 6-8 pm, and when we returned back to the city 2.30 am it started again, but then it was totally overcast ... but, in between when we was out Lady Aurora was too quiet ...

September 10th

Copyright pics: Greenlander Tromsø Team (Photos by Markus Varik)
Since I have had an slow start of my 18. Aurora season with few tours and few guests booked, I needed to give my Aurora Blog little more good spirit by showing you how good this September has started ... so, thank you very much Markus for sharing your pics with me and all the potential guests who like to visit Tromsø for theirs chases ;)

September 14th

Copyright pics: Photos by Markus Varik.
Since I have had an slow start of my 18. Aurora season with few tours and few guests booked, I needed to give my Aurora Blog little more good spirit by showing you how good this September has started ... so, thank you very much Markus for sharing your pics with me and all the potential guests who like to visit Tromsø for theirs chases ;)

September 15th

Guests / Country: 3 guests from China, Japan and Norway (one new guide).
Weather Tromsø: Part clear.
Destination / weather: Grøtfjord / clear.
Aurora activity: 6/10.
Aurora show: All over and towards south, curtains, ribbons and little dancing in two colors.
Tour km: 80.
Tour hrs: 5,5.
Space show: Several shooting stars and a couple of great and bright fireballs.

Missed out the three last great nights before cause I was busy with an food festival conference, but that`s part of the game ... and with seven months left of the season more lovely nights will come ...

Finally a clear night on the coast, so we just went straight west to the most beautiful fjord on the Kvaløya island; Grøtfjord, which has lovely surrounding mountains and great view to the fjords and the ocean ...

September 16th

Copyright pics: Photos by Markus Varik.
Since I have had an slow start of my 18. Aurora season with few tours and few guests booked, I needed to give my Aurora Blog little more good spirit by showing you how good this September has started ... so, thank you very much Markus for sharing your pics with me and all the potential guests who like to visit Tromsø for theirs chases ;)

September 17th

Copyright pics: Photos by Markus Varik.
Since I have had an slow start of my 18. Aurora season with few tours and few guests booked, I needed to give my Aurora Blog little more good spirit by showing you how good this September has started ... so, thank you very much Markus for sharing your pics with me and all the potential guests who like to visit Tromsø for theirs chases ;)

September 18th

Copyright pics: Photos by Markus Varik.
Since I have had an slow start of my 18. Aurora season with few tours and few guests booked, I needed to give my Aurora Blog little more good spirit by showing you how good this September has started ... so, thank you very much Markus for sharing your pics with me and all the potential guests who like to visit Tromsø for theirs chases ;)

September 19th

Guests / Country: 3 guests from India and Norway.
Weather Tromsø: Part clear.
Destination / weather: Grøtfjord / part clear.
Aurora activity: 8/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, curtains, spikes and ribbons, plus intense dancing in 2 colors.
Tour km: 110.
Tour hrs: 5.

September 23rd

Guests / Country: 10 guests from Australia, China and India. Plus 2 of my new guides.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / clear sun stripes ...
Destination / weather: Keinovuopio, Finland / Ramfjord, close to Tromsø / cloudy / holes in clouds / clear.
Aurora activity: 7/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, curtains, ribbons, little dancing in two colors.
Tour km: 380.
Tour hrs: 8,5.
Wildlife: 2 rabbits.

Some nights the weather forecast is soooo wrong ...

It first forecasted better sky far east, so we headed that way ... yeah, 95% of all the Aurora Guides went east ... it was only a few of the newbies who stayed on the coast ... lucky for them ... since the clear sun stripes who was on the SW sky ended up to be a very nice and clear sky over the city at the coast ...

But, I trusted my got feeling and continued to Finland ... at same time I heard some of my colleagues returned towards the city, since we got several pics of clear sky and Aurora just 20 km east of Tromsø ...

So, after taking my driving break in Finland around a quick camp fire for serve my guests with hot drink and snacks, I also went my nose back home ...

It went into a race ... several of the guides drove along with me in the hope that we not was too late for the clear sky and Aurora ... but, at 00.45 we arrived the right spot and I could deliver what my guests came for; A nice Aurora show in a hour ;)

With happy guests I returned to the city around 2.30 am ... but, I was knocked after the hard return for better conditions ... success again after a good cooperation with my colleagues ... without them I should probably stay in the clouds far east ...

September 24th

Photo credit: Markus Hibbler, Germany. Pics location: Schilling.

Guests / Country: 10 guests from Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and China.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain.
Destination / weather: Kilpisjärvi, Finland / part clear / cloudy.
Aurora activity: 5/10.
Aurora show: A couple of ribbons, curtains and spikes. Little two colors moving.
Tour km: 380.
Tour hrs: 8.
Wildlife: One rabbit and two owls.

What a pity miss ...

We found some clear sky just inside the Finnish border and we got little Aurora ... then I saw on the Aurora forecast it should be an amazing show within an hour ... the solar speed raised from 320 to over 500 km/s and the density raised from 0,1 to up to 100, which is extreme ...

And then our sky got destroyed of incoming clouds just 45 mins before the explotion happened ... such a shame ... especially for my guests, but for me too ...

The day after we could see pics from all over Europe of an amazing Aurora show ... also as far as France (!) ...

September 26th

Guests / Country: 12 guests from China, India and Hong Kong.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain.
Destination / weather: Iitto, Finland / Skibotndalen valley / part clear / clear.
Aurora activity: 5/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, but faint. Spikes, curls and little moving.
Tour km: 420.
Tour hrs: 9.

I didn`t gave the chance of finding clear sky so much hope tonight, since the weather forecast was really bad all over ...

Re; the weather forecast; You can check and follow it, but you can`t trust it!

Several guides choose to stay on the coast in the rain and very strong wind, but I decided me for go far east and hope for the best ... far inside Finland we saw first the light of the moon between the clouds, and suddenly we had some stars, so I stopped 210 km from Tromsø ...

And in the clear hole we had little Aurora visible ... and then the clear sky got better and better and at the end the sky was 90% clear, but Lady Aurora didn`t cooperate so well since the big show didn`t show up ...

On our way back to the city the activity build up, so we stopped a couple of times for check it out, but not ...

September 27th

Guests / Country: 11 guests from Dominican Rep., China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Norway (one guide on training).
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Grøtfjord / Rekvikeidet / high clouds / openings.
Aurora activity: 3/10.
Aurora show: Several ribbons across and spikes.
Tour km: 110.
Tour hrs: 6,5.
Wildlife: Two reindeer.

It was forecasted high clouds all over, so no reason to drive far away so I went out on the coast for some sightseeing spots, before the sky got dark enough for see the Northern Lights ... and the sky went much better than the weather forecast says with 90% clear sky ...

September 30th - Aurora Chase Dinner

Guests / Country: 8 guests from Ireland, Germany, Singapore and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Bjørnsmo / Baklia / clear / passing clouds / clear / haze.
Aurora activity: 3/10.
Aurora show: Several ribbons across, spikes and curtains, but quite faint.
Tour km: 400.
Tour hrs: 8,5.

After several nights ... read; weeks with bad weather and totally wrong weather forecasts, it was nice to relax with my guests under 100% clear sky, no wind and lovely temperatures.

We had to turn into a new area for me for the first "show" on the way, where we got the little in a partly clear sky, before we continued further south to totally clear sky ... but, Lady Aurora was shy.