What YOU need to know about the aurora season 2022-2023
New aurora season has started with a BANG and this blog post will give you an idea about what to expect for the season 2022-2023.
New Aurora Season 2022-2023 has started. Picture: Ryan
As the summer of ’22 comes to an end and the chilling winds of autumn arrive in Lapland, we celebrate the start of a new aurora season 2022-2023. The season started with a record early northern lights on 19th of August, when a geomagnetic storm produced stunning northern lights. Once more, it’s time for the northern lights hunters to wipe off the dust from their cameras and get ready for the new season.
After the bright summer nights, seeing the northern lights is mesmerizing. Picture: Juhani
What can you expect from the 2022-2023 season?
Activity of the Sun changes in an eleven-year cycle known as the solar cycle. During the cycle of the Sun, there is a maximum year, when crazy Aurora nights occur most often, and there is a minimum year, when there are hardly any crazy nights.
Last maximum occurred back in 2015, when 19% of the nights were “crazy”. A few years after were also amazing but were then followed by minimum years between 2018-2020. These years had only about 4% of maximum activity nights compared to back in 2015. Here we can make an observation that one had about 5X better chance of seeing huge Aurora storms in 2015 compared to 2018-2020.
New season 2022-2023 will be an exciting one, because it’s going to be better than the previous four seasons. It’s still unknown how good the season will eventually be, but there is great potential for once in a lifetime experiences.
Activity of the Sun changes in an eleven-year cycle known as the solar cycle. During the cycle of the Sun, there is a maximum year, when crazy Aurora nights occur most often, and there is a minimum year, when there are hardly any crazy nights.
Last maximum occurred back in 2015, when 19% of the nights were “crazy”. A few years after were also amazing but were then followed by minimum years between 2018-2020. These years had only about 4% of maximum activity nights compared to back in 2015. Here we can make an observation that one had about 5X better chance of seeing huge Aurora storms in 2015 compared to 2018-2020.
New season 2022-2023 will be an exciting one, because it’s going to be better than the previous four seasons. It’s still unknown how good the season will eventually be, but there is great potential for once in a lifetime experiences.
New season starts with great northern lights. Picture: Matias
Season 2022-2023 Tips and Tricks
Season 2022 has already started with great activity and easy weather in late August. For northern lights hunters, 19th and 27th of August were amazing nights. September started well as between 1st and 11th of September there were six nights with northern lights. On the 12th of September the autumn rains (and clouds) covered Lapland and it was a week with no Aurora chasing tours.
Early season Northern Lights with open water. Picture: Ryan
October 2022 is going to be exciting as there are estimations about active sunspots facing Earth early October. October is the main month of the autumn, and you can experience the first snow and the freezing of the rivers and lakes. If you’re lucky, you can also hear the ice “sing”.
Watch this video in YouTube
The freezing ice can create unforgettable experience. Video by: Jonna Jinton
November 2022 is one of the more difficult months as being the cloudiest month of the season. Don’t worry though, with Beyond Arctic you can maximize your chances to see the lights despite the difficult weather. We are devoted to finding clear sky, even if it’s needed to drive for hours. Last November our team had a great success rate with northern lights despite the difficult conditions.
December 2022 is the busiest month for the season as there are lots of people arriving to Rovaniemi for the winter and the Christmas experiences. Be sure to book your spot well in advance because tours tend to be fully booked due the high demand. In December you can experience polar night phenomenon when the shortest day has 2,5 hours difference between sunrise and sunset. Slightly north of the Arctic Circle, you have days, when the Sun doesn’t rise above the horizon at all.
January 2023 marks the arrival of the new year and highlights as the “heart of the winter”. January is a great month for those winter wonderland images.
February 2023 is the final month of the winter and offers great chance at capturing the northern lights.
March 2023 is likely to be the BEST month of the season as with history has shown, it has the easiest weather. Anybody wanting to maximize their chances at seeing the lights, March is their go-to month. The March equinox on the 20th marks also great day for the solar wind as the close proximity to the equinox usually produces better northern lights due to our better position towards the Sun.
April 2023 will be the final month for the northern lights as the light will overcome the darkness. April 2022 had great first two weeks and the last northern lights of the previous season were seen on the 20th of April.
Beyond Arctic is looking forward creating some once in a lifetime experiences. Picture: Juhani
Looking forward seeing you in Rovaniemi this Aurora season 2022-2023!
Juhani Vanhatapio
Photographer & Northern Lights hunter
Juhani Vanhatapio
Photographer & Northern Lights hunter
