09/29/2023
I’m going to go full science geek on you for a minute, because I get so excited about this kind of thing and I don’t want you to miss out! Last year, we had an amazing time in the Scottish Highlands in the dead of winter. We cycled to castles and hiked the fairy pools with almost NO ONE else around. We visited luskentyre, saw hairy cows & searched for fairies. We even got to see the northern lights! It’s very uncommon to see the aurora there at all, but this is where the science comes in. The sun’s solar cycles are on roughly an 11 year cycle. Incidences of solar activity (and therefore aurora activity) get bigger and higher until the peak, and then it goes down over the next few years until it peaks again roughly 11 years later. The PEAK is more or less now! We happened to be in Scotland during a huge flare in early 2023, but during that time you could even see the aurora in the far northern reaches of the US. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can’t see the northern lights during the summer because it’s just not dark enough (there’s too much sunshine, so mid-2024 you won’t be able to see anything), meaning really the peak time to HEAD NORTHWARD is going to be this winter & probably next winter. If this is on your bucket list, now is the time to plan! I’m a geography nerd and this was my degree, which makes me a great planner around things like this 😆. Of course there are never guarantees, but let’s talk about it
