Aurora borealis in Bodø
It was supposed to be a family winter trip to the north of Norway. Snow, northern lights and Lofoten Islands. Just perfect winter holidays.
The expedition, which had been planned for months, was called into question about two weeks before departure. Watching the weather forecasts, I realized that the second half of January is probably not the best time for such trips. Strong winds and heavy downpours hit the northern coast of Norway almost all the time. And the weather doesn’t look like it’s going to improve soon. The ferry connection between Bodø, where we were supposed to fly from Gdańsk, and Moskenes in Lofoten, also did not turn out to be as optimal as I initially assumed. I decided that it was time to come up with a plan B and in this way the stay in Lofoten turned into a stay in Bodø.
The weather didn’t change much during those two weeks and we ended up in Bodø, a windy and rainy city with little chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Fate meant that our three-day stay coincided perfectly with the arrival of some strong hurricane raging on the coast. The wind strength sometimes reached 19 m/s and rain and / or snow created horizontal streaks of the raging element outside the window of our quarters.
As they say, hope dies last, and since there was little to do with the stormy weather outside, I constantly followed the forecasts for the next few hours and the chances of seeing the aurora in a special app on my mobile. And probably someone up there took pity on us and on our third (last) night in Bodø, an opportunity arose. We waited until midnight (like we usually do to welcome the new year) and then we set out to hunt aurora borealis.
We found ourselves at the marina just outside the city. The spot may not be the best, as there were still plenty of lights around and the glow over the city did not make it easier to stare at the sky. It was still covered with clouds, driven by a strong, frosty wind. But here and there twinkling stars could be seen. That was our hope.
At first, there was little to see. It was as if our Aurora was just waking up and slowly, timidly showing her charms. Her first face was visible only in the photo with a long exposure time. The naked eye could see only a gray outline, not much different from another cloud. But the longer we stared at the sky, the more vivid, greener the colors became. Until finally you could see the beauty of the aurora without the help of a camera.
We spent maybe an hour at the marina, fighting the cold and the gusty wind. When the clouds completely covered the sky again, we decided it was time to go back. However, on the way back, driving through the streets of Bodø, I saw the aurora again and again outside the door of our quarters in the city center. The light pollution didn’t bother her at all.
I admit that we were very lucky during this trip. The forecast relentlessly convinced me that we would see very little during these three nights. But as you can see, even in such conditions we had the opportunity to see the Northern Lights.
