Rain and more rain

aurora seen from a plane
Aurora was seen on a flight from Seattle to Fairbanks Aug 8, 10:45pm. Note the midnight sun to the left. Photo: Amy Stratman

Aurora season started a couple weeks ago, as it gets dark at night now, although very briefly. As we get closer to September, the far north becomes more and more dark at night.

The aurora has been present, but it has been so cloudy and rainy in both Fairbanks and Anchorage, that we only saw the aurora once, and it was in between the clouds and faint. Northern Canada has seen nice aurora lately, with fewer clouds. This makes it seem like “there is no aurora seen in August” in Fairbanks. This is not the case. The only reason it was not seen is because it has been very cloudy and rainy.

It is definitely time to start watching the sky nightly.

6 Comments

    1. That’s too far out to plan. If it’s cloudy, then you chase the aurora…you drive to clear weather. A tour guide can also take you to another location if you don’t want to follow the weather and drive at night.

    1. Yes! Aurora was seen last night north of Fairbanks where it was clearer. Rain is expected all this week in Fairbanks so tonight would be a good time to look.

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