How often can you see the northern lights in canada?
Question by Jane: How often can you see the northern lights in canada?
I’m going to a trip to canada, and i’m just wondering, how often can you see the northern lights? i really wanna try out my new camera!
I am going to a trip in canada (vancouver, banff, and victoria), and am wondering how often can you see the northern lights?
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i’ve lived in Canada for 18 years and have never seen northern lights, Canada is a huge country you need to specify where in the second largest country you are visiting.
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It depends on location and solar cycle. Places like Edmonton see them fairly regularly during winter during the solar maximum. We’re just off the solar minimum now, so the shows are uninspiring, and it’s still summer, the days are too long to really see them up north where they’re really visible (again, using Edmonton, it never really gets truly dark out in summer because it’s so far north). The tourists go to Yellowknife, but again in summer the days are 20 hours of sun and 4 hours of twilight.
You might try looking for them in Banff, but don’t get your hopes up. The conditions simply aren’t that great for them right now.
I lived in southwestern BC – just outside Vancouver – for many years and never once saw them there. It’s too urban and city lights drown out most of the sky. When I was a little kid I lived outside Edmonton and we saw them quite regularly in winter, including some pretty spectacular shows. This was in the mid 1980s though, at the solar peak.
ive lived here my whole life .. 18 years and have never seen them lol
This page, besides showing short term predictions of intensity, shows you where the activity generally tends to be best:
http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/
By default it shows an Alaska view, but you can select the North America view to see Canada better.
The zone is centered around the north magnetic pole, not the true north pole. So it dips south in central Canada. During moderate activity the aurora might be visible in Winnipeg, but it would be rare to see it in Vancouver. Canadian locations with good transportation and tourist facilities that often have good activity include Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and Thompson, Manitoba.
I seem to have a talent for bringing the clouds with me, but during some breaks in the weather I have seen the aurora from Yellowknife and Dawson City.
http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=martingrumet&number=35&album_id=15&thumbstart=0&gallery=#slideanchor
http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=martingrumet&number=49&album_id=22&thumbstart=0&gallery=#slideanchor
Long exposure photography makes the auroral color look more vivid than it does to the eye. At low to moderate activity the color looks very faint to the eye because you rely mostly on colorblind night vision to see it. A daylight white balance makes the scattered city light look more red to the camera than it does to the eye. The aurora is not a thing but a function. It is the fluorescence of the upper atmosphere according to how the particles hit it. It changes in intensity and position, and long exposures can make it look more blob-like in photos than it does to the eye.
Vancouver, Victoria? You won’t see them. Only rarely are the lights visible that far south. So don’t get your hopes up.
Banff? You may get lucky and see them. The Northern Lights don’t always appear. Don’t have your heart set on seeing them. I know people who visit out there regularly and they’ve never seen them. I spent 3 summers (two in Edmonton, one in Victoria) and never once saw the lights.
If you want to see the northern lights, spend 3 days in Yellowknife or Whitehorse in the winter. You will have an 80% chance of seeing them on one of the nights.
Otherwise, forget about it. Enjoy the other scenery though. You’ll have lots to try out your new camera on.
There are many variables.
Generally, going north really helps – although not too far. The aurora is usually in a circle around the North Magnetic Pole. This band will run through the central Yukon, Yellowknife, Churchill, and so on. Being near those places really helps, except at this time of year, it doesn’t get dark, and you could not see them now. In April near Dawson City, I saw them cover about 3/4 of the sky.
It also depends on the solar activity. We are just coming out of the solar minimum, so it will be several years before the aurora will be truly active. And, Vancouver, Banff, and Victoria are really far south – you need a pretty spectacular display to be seen that far south. Especially in the two cities, where they streetlights will wash the sky out.
The Yukon in March/April is your best bet. Even then, I saw them perhaps a half dozen times this year.