Yesterday evening proved that one can never count on the Northern Lights: Nature's most stunning show is also extremely unpredictable. The Aurora is pretty, but ficke, and it is almost impossible to predict them with any certainty. Earlier in the day the Icelandic Meteorological Office as well as others had been predicting a grade 7 activity, strong, but by yesterday evening it was evident we were only getting a grade 2 low activity.
Read more: Great Aurora forecast for rest of week – Outlook for tonight, wednesday is spectacular
But no need to despair! The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is still extremely good: Tonight the IMO is forecasting a grade 5 activity, (high) and tomorrow, Friday a grade 7 (strong) activity. What's more important, mostly clear skies are expected over all of South, South West and West Iceland tonight and tomorrow evening.
Read more: Learn all about the Aurora on this new interactive website
The IMO is expecting a level 4 Active Aurora activity on Thursday and Friday. The IMO explains that grade 2 (low activity) can be beautiful and grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling. Anything above 3 has the potential of being truly spectacular.
Geomagnetic Storm Watch in effect
The strong activity is due to a G3 level geomagnetic storm which is the result of a powerful coronal mass ejection of the sun.
Earlier this week the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch for yesterday and today. The storm watch has been updated to apply to the days September 7 through September 9.
Clear skies
The key to seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland is a combination of strong Aurora activity and clear skies.
Read more: Beautiful short film commemorating a week of fantastic northern lights
Tonight and tomorrow the IMO is forecasting mostly clear skies over much of West Iceland and all of South Iceland. The skies over Reykjavík will remain mostly clear for the evening.
According to IMO it will be dark from 21:08 (9:08 pm) to 5:43 (5:43 am). Sunset is at 20:18 (8:18 pm).
Yesterday evening proved that one can never count on the Northern Lights: Nature's most stunning show is also extremely unpredictable. The Aurora is pretty, but ficke, and it is almost impossible to predict them with any certainty. Earlier in the day the Icelandic Meteorological Office as well as others had been predicting a grade 7 activity, strong, but by yesterday evening it was evident we were only getting a grade 2 low activity.
Read more: Great Aurora forecast for rest of week – Outlook for tonight, wednesday is spectacular
But no need to despair! The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is still extremely good: Tonight the IMO is forecasting a grade 5 activity, (high) and tomorrow, Friday a grade 7 (strong) activity. What's more important, mostly clear skies are expected over all of South, South West and West Iceland tonight and tomorrow evening.
Read more: Learn all about the Aurora on this new interactive website
The IMO is expecting a level 4 Active Aurora activity on Thursday and Friday. The IMO explains that grade 2 (low activity) can be beautiful and grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling. Anything above 3 has the potential of being truly spectacular.
Geomagnetic Storm Watch in effect
The strong activity is due to a G3 level geomagnetic storm which is the result of a powerful coronal mass ejection of the sun.
Earlier this week the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch for yesterday and today. The storm watch has been updated to apply to the days September 7 through September 9.
Clear skies
The key to seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland is a combination of strong Aurora activity and clear skies.
Read more: Beautiful short film commemorating a week of fantastic northern lights
Tonight and tomorrow the IMO is forecasting mostly clear skies over much of West Iceland and all of South Iceland. The skies over Reykjavík will remain mostly clear for the evening.
According to IMO it will be dark from 21:08 (9:08 pm) to 5:43 (5:43 am). Sunset is at 20:18 (8:18 pm).
