November 2024

November 30th - Private Aurora Chase Dinner

Guests / Country: 4 guests from USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Kilpisjärvi, Finland / part clear / haze / cloudy.
Aurora activity: 1/10.
Aurora show: A couple of faint stripes on the north sky, curls.
Visible for the naked eyes: Just some faint grey / white.
Tour km: 330.
Tour hrs: 8,5.
Wildlife: One fox.

Some nights I wish that I had started earlier ... but, then it will be a very long wait if the activity is not starting up before after midnight.

Tonight it was okey Aurora activity inside the Finnish border from about 9 pm, but when we arrived we missed most of it, since the sky wasn`t clear enough, and then we spend too long time to find a spot to stand, since all spots was already taken ...

At same time, after the heavy snowfall the day before in the stormy weather, then they are not so good to clear the parking spots either in Finland, so it was a mess inside the border ...

And since I am selling silence I am close to never stopping at a locations where it`s too crowdy.

So, I ended by stopping in middle of the road, while I made my own parking spot in the deep snow ... and sent my guests out in the snow and darkness so they could see the little rest of tonight`s Aurora ...

Then after 1,5 hours digging I could start with what was the main case tonight; Prepare tonight`s Halibut meal in my Theatre of Food.

And my guests loved it, so then I am happy too ;)

November 29th

Guests / Country: 15 guests from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, India, China and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / snow.
Destination / weather: Skibotndalen valley / Nordkjosbotn / cloudy / part clear / haze.
Aurora activity: 6/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, curtains, spikes.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green.
Tour km: 275.
Tour hrs: 8.

The storm last night and day should be over, but it was still quite strong gusts when we left the city ...

And the first 45 km the drive out was really slow ... not cause of rental cars, but some guides are also too unsure on tricky driving conditions, so when I got the chance I had to pass one car, one truck and the minibus in front and speed up, sonce we was 30 mins behind schedule.

The plan was Finland, but when we arrived the valley before I got reports from other guides in front, that the conditions in Finnish Lapland was tricky ... not only the clouds, but also poor roads after last storm half meter snowfall, so it was not many places to stop ...

So, after too much thinking, then I decided to stay put down in the valley and we got to see the Northern Lights twice.

At the last stop I decided to set camp fire in the snowy weather, for serve my guests hot drinks and snacks, and while I was busy to lit the fire, one of my guests saw a couple of stars, and the sky got lovely partly clear again.

Therefore we waited little extra since it was a Aurora stripe on the south sky ... but, it didn`t exploted before we was on the return back to the city, so I just had to make a 4th stop for the chase ... thanks to the rental car tourists who had stopped in the bus stop before and looked towards south ;)

November 28th

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / snow / windy.
Destination / weather: Finnish Lapland +55 km / clear / some clouds.
Aurora activity: 2/10.
Aurora show: Just a couple of faint stripes low on the north sky, spikes. Two colors on camera.
Visible for the naked eyes: Only some white / grey stripes.
Tour km: 415.
Tour hrs: 8.

A race with the stormy weather !

Tonight I had to warn my guests that the chase had to be shorter than normal, cause of an incoming stormy weather.

So, I was planning a max drive to the Finnish border (155 km), with a return one hour earlier, before midnight.

While we drove out I was following the sky camera in Skibotn and kept contact with a colleague by the border who drove out one hour earlier. It was partly clear sky down in Skibotn and by the border until 9.30 pm, and before we arrived that also had Aurora on the sky in 30 mins.

But, when we arrived the border just before 10 pm it was overcast …

So, I had to break my plan for an early return, and continue further into Finnish Lapland for give my guests what they came for, get to see a glimpse of the Northern Lights. While we was driving further SE all the parking slots was packed with buses and vans, on the most it was around 150 people in one spot …

I am selling silence, so after 210 km from the city, I finally found an empty spot, where I could stop, and the sky was 80% clear, but Lady Aurora was shy with only little and weak activity low on the north sky …

I gave my guests 1,5 hour, since I had to think about the return, so they got safe back in the city before the bad warned storm should arrive ... we was acutely 1,5 hours after my planned scheduled, and I had to sacrifice myself and possibly to return home this night.

Since if the airport bridge could get closed, then I couldn’t drive home … so, I was planning an expensive hotel night with a better brunch in the city, so I had got a good rest before the next night Chase.

The return drive was windy and snowy, but not so bad as forecasted, and while we came closer to the city the road conditions was really good, so we arrived at 3 am.

All my guests was safe back, and that’s most important.

So, before I checked the city hotels capacity, I had to check the wind at the bridge … and I could pass over in 32 ms, but 17 mins after I had passed, the wind got suddenly stronger with 42 ms and the bridge got closed !

So, it went to a really gambling race.

I wish for my guests we could stay longer out in Finnish Lapland, since one hour after we had left then the Northern Lights got stronger and better, but there’s a new night work for me the next night …

November 26th

Guests / Country: 14 guests from Germany, India, China, Philippines, UK and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Storfjord / Skibotndalen valley / part clear / clear.
Aurora activity: 7/10.
Aurora show: All over and little towards south, curls, spikes and curtains. Little dancing and a couple of small coronas.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green.
Tour km: 255.
Tour hrs: 7.
Wildlife: One weasel and a very curious moose.

After postponed last night chase for tonight cause I was tired of all the bad weather we`ve had the last two months, the bus got filled up again for the guests from the six which couldn`t move theirs chase ...

At least the weather forecast was so much better tonight, but it`s changing of course, so it looks like we had to drive far inside Finnish Lapland for get a good clear sky ... but, it changed again, back to the `first forecast` so east of the Lyngen Alps we had to make the first stop for get the first glimpse of the Northern Lights.

Then we continue 10 more km and made the final stop of the night, and from partly clear to totally clear sky, then we had a great evening in the forest in the valley, and I am glad for my guests since inside the border the temperature was minus 20 degrees ...

Just before midnight the clouds returned, so then we went back to the city ... and I was happy since my guests was happy too after a great Aurora show, much better than I thought we should get, since the solar speed was low with only 370 km/s, but I guess the high density saved us.

November 24th

Tonight`s Private Aurora Chase Dinner got canceled since the Lufthansa pilot didn`t manage to land in Tromsø Saturday evening cause the tricky weather condition, so the flight returned to Frankfurt ...
Pics is from my own Aurora view from the plane at November 17th, 9.19 pm over Bodø. Hope theirs captain turned out the cabin lights, so they could see the Aurora what we saw this night ...

November 23rd

Guests / Country: 15 guests from Ireland, Israel, India, Taiwan, UAE and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain.
Destination / weather: Finnish border / part clear / haze / cloudy.
Aurora activity: 6/10.
Aurora show: All over and little towards south, curtains, spikes and curls. Two colors on camera.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green.
Tour km: 310.
Tour hrs: 6,5.

Tonight we had two options; we could stay in the rain and waiting for the clouds should make some gaps with a short return to the city, or we could do the long drive and head far east towards Finland.

I did the last, since I think it`s better to wait in the snowy landscape and have falling snow instead of pouring rain.

The pity case was that I got reports from the coast that they already had clear sky around 8.30 pm, and got to see the Northern Lights ... so, I was thinking a minute and wondering if we should return to the coast (100 km) or continue the drive east with 90 km to the border ...

I choose to continue, and when we arrived the border, it was Aurora all over, so I decide to stop there ... and my guests was happy, since they didn`t thought they should see so much of the Northern Lights this night either ...

But, we got only a short one, about 1,5 hours, since the clouds came in just before tonight`s last show ... so, I just took an extra 200 meter drive into Finland, so my guests could get a pics of the Finnish EU sign ... and then we returned back home.

November 20th

Guests / Country: 13 guests from Mexico, India, Brasil, China, Ireland and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Clear.
Destination / weather: Henrikvika / Grøtfjord / clear.
Aurora activity: 7/10.
Aurora show: All over and little towards south, curls, spikes and curtains. Little dancing and a couple of faint coronas.
Visible for the naked eyes: Green and little pink.
Tour km: 75.
Tour hrs: 5.

Finally we got a clear sky in Tromsø and on the coast, the first one since October 19th (!). And since that it has been four weeks with bad weather, especially the last week, but then I was off from work ... good planning ;)

So, I just make a short one and went to the most popular Aurora fjord 40 km west of Tromsø, Grøtfjord.

We had to make a short stop on the way out, since the activity was starting super early, just after a 20 mins drive out from the city, and when we stopped at one of my favorite location the whole sky was already filled up with Auroras.

Since it was a early start with good activity, we did a early return and was back in the city already by midnight, but the activity was also over for tonight, so it was no reason to stay longer and wait for nothing ...

November 19th

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Skogsfjord / Grunnfjord / cloudy / haze / gaps in clouds.
Aurora activity: 0/10.
Aurora show: Too cloudy !
Visible for the naked eyes: Nothing.
Tour km: 210.
Tour hrs: 7.
Wildlife: One reindeer.

Tonight the weather forecast showed the best sky on the coast with high clouds and little clearer before midnight ... but, it didn`t really happened ...

We drove first to the NW side of Ringvassøy island, set camp fire on the beach and waited, but the only we saw on the sky was the moon behind a cloud layer.

It was coming in different messages about more visible stars little further NE so we headed there while many buses went back to the city, but I decided to give it an extra shot and just wait little longer ... and we got little clear sky and many stars ... but, the activity was slim ... so one hours later at 1 am we returned back to the city ...

Tonight the best Aurora activity was between 2 pm (!) to 10 pm.

After dropping off the guests in the city, and when I arrived my home 40 km north on the same island where we was, the sky got partly clear (pics) at 3.30 am ... so, the clear sky was about four hours delayed ... it`s pity, of course, but tonight the clouds and Lady Aurora didn`t cooperate well ...

That`s part of this gamble game, so it`s smart to be out more than one night ...

November 18th

Guests / Country: 13 guests from Mexico, China, Germany and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Dyrøya bridge / cloudy / haze / gaps in clouds.
Aurora activity: 3/10.
Aurora show: Couple of stripes across the sky, spikes and curls. Little dancing.
Visible for the naked eyes: Faint white and maybe little green.
Tour km: 380.
Tour hrs: 8.
Wildlife: One fox ... and two moose after dropping off my guests.

Tonight I could do it short and easy like all my good colleagues did by drive short out to sommarøy 60 km west of the city, but I decided to do the long drive, since I was fit for fight after a eight nights break ...

So, we headed far south for see if we came in front of the cloudy weather front, and partly we had success, but in the area we ended up it was too much street lights, so finally I decided to stop by a bridge ... with street lights there too.

But, it was good we stopped just then, since the activity was started at the same moment my guests was outside the bus.

And after chatting with some other guides and see theirs pics, we got actually the best sky for tonight`s show ;)

November 9th

Guests / Country: 16 guests from India, South Korea, Switzerland, USA and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy.
Destination / weather: Bardufoss / part clear.
Aurora activity: 7/10.
Aurora show: Far south and little above, curls, spikes and curtains. Little dancing in two colors.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green and little pink.
Tour km: 275.
Tour hrs: 7.
Wildlife: Sound of bells around us, so there was a group of reindeers at the mountain plateau.

Finally a change in which direction we drove, since it has been many nights in row towards east lately, towards Skibotn and Finland ... so, this night we headed south.

The sky began to be clear around 110 km south of the city, but I continued little more since I had a lovely mountains location in my mind, where we could enjoy the silence for us self, since probably not so many guides knew about this option.

The sky was mostly clear when we arrived, and there was already Aurora on the sky ... yeah, we had missed a lot during our drive and before, since the activity was started already at 1 pm this afternoon, and probably the best show was at 6 pm, before I met my guests for tonight`s chase.

And it was a special evening, since all the activity was on the south east sky only, nothing towards north.

We was close to leave this beautiful mountains, since it suddenly got totally overcast after an hour, but when I started to drive, the sky cleared up again, so we drove backwards 150 meter to the same parking spot and stay there rest of the evening.

November 8th

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Italy, Germany, India, China and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain / very strong wind.
Destination / weather: Finnish border / part clear.
Aurora activity: 6/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, but faint. Curtains, curls and spikes. A couple of small coronas. Two colord on camera.
Visible for the naked eyes: White and little red glowing.
Tour km: 295.
Tour hrs: 6,5.

When I drove into the city and passed the bridge by the airport it showed 42 (!) m/s, but since I had the very strong wind in the back it didn`t blinked red ... but, it did from the opposite side where the wind hit the bridge from the side ...

I understood that the driving conditions could be a challenge this evening ... but, it went well, and I think it was much less wind than it was forecasted ... but, that was until I opened the bus door 15 km from the border, when I should check the sky ... the wind came from the behind with the result it broken the drivers door ... shit happens !!

So, when I found a place for the night up in the mountains closer to the border, I was super careful which direction the bus was parked, so the passengers sidedoor was in shelter.

It was very windy outdoor, but it was plus degrees so the wind didn`t bothering my guests and me too much, but we had to take care of the tripods, so they didn`t tilt over and we got crashed cameras ...

The Northern Lights was all over and colorful on cameras, but it was faint ... tonight`s best show was probably one hour before we arrived the clear sky ... and 30 mins after we had left ... that`s the game with the weather here in the Arctic.

November 7th - Private Aurora Chase

Guests / Country: 4 guests from Brasil.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain.
Destination / weather: Storfjord / Skibotndalen valley / part clear / rain.
Aurora activity: 4/10.
Aurora show: Several stripes across the sky, curls, spikes and little dancing curtains.
Visible for the naked eyes: Faint green.
Tour km: 275.
Tour hrs: 6,5.
Wildlife: 1+2 moose.

Is this the new normal ? +16 degrees celcius, rain and strong wind ... it´s November 7th !!

A new tricky weather night, and tonight I didn`t had so much hope to see anything, but as mention before; The clouds are moving and the weather forecast for the Arctic are never accurate, so again we found partly clear sky and got to see the Northern Lights.

After a short detour for checking the weather conditions in an another valley, incl. Moose Safari, we was just a few km away from Skibotn, when I saw the Northern Lights glimpsed up on the west sky while we was driving in heavy rain ...

So, I just had to turn into the first parking spot I found and there we got our first shots of Lady Aurora performance.

Then we continued to Skibotn and set camp at Lake Goaki, where we had a huge gap in the clouds towards south and east ... and we was lucky since most of tonight`s show was on the south sky ... but, we missed a lot cause the heavy clouds at all another sky directions ...

November 6th

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Taiwan and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain.
Destination / weather: Finnish Lapland & border / hole in clouds / part clear.
Aurora activity: 5/10.
Aurora show: Several stripes across, curtains, curls and spikes. Little dancing with two colors visible.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green and faint pink.
Tour km: 350.
Tour hrs: 8,5.
Wildlife: 2+2 moose.

A new tricky weather night, where I didn`t thought we should found so much clear sky ... but, you never know here in the Arctic and the weather forecast was totally wrong ... again.

We went 20 km inside the Finnish border where we found a gap in the clouds, and since my colleagues further in and back down in the valley reported about the same conditions, I choosed to stay put and just wait ...

Patience is King !

The small cloud hole got larger and the little of Aurora we saw got better and better, so we stayed there a couple of hours and had a nice moment, and the guests was happy too, so no better than that when the weather conditions is so difficult.

On the return we had to make a new stop atr the border, since both the sky and Aurora got clearer and more activity arrived.

Very late return at 3.30 am back to Cunard Queen Mary 2, where all my guests had theirs accommodation.

November 3rd

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Norway and USA.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / sleet / snow.
Destination / weather: Skibotndalen valley / the Finnish border / part clear / fog / part clear / clear.
Aurora activity: 7/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, curls and spikes, and little dancing curtains. A couple of coronas.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green.
Tour km: 315.
Tour hrs: 7,5.

Finally on the third try we reached Finland, but only across the border with a couple of km.

We had to make a stop down in the valley too, since it was a gap towards NE with good Aurora, and then we made a stop just a few km before the border since Aurora was bright red (on camera), but there the fog took quickly over, so we had to escape.

Again the Northern Lights was towards south, and our final location was perfect with clear sky, but suddenly clouds built up around the southern Aurora, but then the activity got larger and went above the clouds and towards the west sky which was clear.

And then we got Northern Lights all over ...

November 2nd

Guests / Country: 16 guests from Germany, Portugal, China, USA and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Cloudy / rain / snow.
Destination / weather: Finnish border / clear.
Aurora activity: 8/10.
Aurora show: All over and far south, moving curtains, curls, spikes and couple of coronas.
Visible for the naked eyes: Bright green and red glowing.
Tour km: 7.
Tour hrs: 300.

2nd night in row I was planned to drive into Finnish Lapland, but when we came 7 km before the border the sky was good enough, and the Northern Lights was all over ...

It was guides, buses and rental cars all over, but I found a free place to stay between them ... a great one, so it was strange no-one had taken this one.

Reports from the border says strong wind, but here it was no wind, so in 10 minus degrees it was just a perfect place to stay.

The Northern Lights was all over, especially towards south and it got better and better, also with glowing red, visible for the naked eyes.

November 1st

Guests / Country: 14 guests from Germany, Italy, USA and UK.
Weather Tromsø: Part clear / incoming snow.
Destination / weather: Oteren / Skibotndalen valley / part clear / clear / overcast / snow.
Aurora activity: 3/10.
Aurora show: Only a couple of stripes low on the north sky. Two colors on camera.
Visible for the naked eyes: Just a white stripe.
Tour km: 275.
Tour hrs: 6,5.
Wildlife: 2 moose.
Space show: A huge orange fireball.

First I planned to drive far into Finnish Lapland, but the activity started early so we had to make a stop before for catch the first show ... which was slim ...

20 km before the border we made the final stop since the sky was perfectly clear and the little glimpse of Aurora we got begins to be little brighter ...

But, then the chase ended quickly since the forecasted weather front reached us and cover the sky ... so, since the activity was low and the cloud cover was too fast it was no reason to drive further, so we returned back to the city.

On the return we met two moose in the snowstorm, and it went close to a crash into them when they suddenly crossed the road, but when they heard the noise from the breaks they stopped ...

... and thanks for that, since I was already planned which part of the bus they should hit ... it rise my heart rythm ... not a funny experience, but it was not the first time I met the forest king in middle of the roads, so ...

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