Tips on Viewing the Aurora

sec.noaa.gov...



Being able to see the Aurora depends mainly on two factors, geomagnetic activity (the degree of disturbance of the earth's magnetic field at the time) and your geographic location. Further considerations are the weather at your location, and light pollution from city lights, full moon and so forth.



[Edited on 4-2-2003 by William One Sac]

Many years ago i was driving through Scotland late at night, there was a thunderstorm and the rain was so heavy that i had to pull into a lay-by because i could not see where i was going, i decided to sleep in the car and got into my sleeping bag, shortly after different coloured lights seemed to shine from the clouds onto the car and the moutainside to one side, and into the valley on the other side of me. I was so scared i hid in my sleeping bag where i eventually fell asleep until morning.
To this day i have not been able to find out if it was the Aurora or some other anomally.
Any idea if it is possible to see the Aurora during a very heavy thunderstorm, or if coloured lights could shine onto the ground from it?
Or any idea what else could have caused it?

X.

the aurora's are bright, however not bright enough to shine through even moderate cloud cover. I have only seen the aurora once in my life, it was spectacular. The different colored lights would shimmer and waves of light raced across the sky. Then little points would turn red, then a blinding red and soon the whole sky would be a brilliant red. Amazing. But if there were thunderclouds that night I would have never seen them.

William,
I was hoping you would have said it was possible that i had seen the Aurora, that would have put my mind at rest. I'd love to see the Aurora, you are very lucky to see it, it must have been a fantastic expeirience.
X.

I can say I've been "lucky" enough to have seen the aurora while I was living in Iceland. Oh my goodness! It took my breath away. I laid on the ground just staring at the sky. I felt like I was in a trance...
I hope that I can someday see them again.
Magestica