The first northern lights of the season appear in the middle of August and they can be seen until middle of April.

I do the research in the afternoon for the upcoming night. My experience tells that we can’t anticipate at more than few minutes/hours in advance a small part of the hunt, and the biggest part is the work to do while hunting.

NORTHERN LIGHTS
They are not predictable months, weeks, or even days in advance. Even in the morning it’s too early to know anything for the coming night, because all the parameters and data that makes northern lights appear in the sky are evolving in real time and need to be taken into consideration only from the beginning of the night.

WEATTHER
The weather evolves all the time in the arctic circle and often doesn’t align with what the forecasts show. The arctic weather is one parameter that I learned to deal with during the 7 years of my experience as northern light hunter. I check that on the night of the hunt, we can’t predict days ahead if the weather will allow us to hunt or not.

It is important to understand that in every month of the northern light season, there will be huge northern lights, small ones, average ones, nights on which we have to cancel due to weather/space weather. You can’t know days in advance if northern lights will be big or small or if the weather will even be good to hunt, that’s why we always prepare the hunt only few hours before the night comes and when the hunt starts we can’t know how it will end regarding the intensity of northern lights we will get or even how much we will drive. However, I recommend:

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER-MARCH

-Generally better weather in these 3 months (but not always). The cloud coverage being less present, we usually have less distance to drive (unlike winter on which the cloud coverage can be a bit larger).

-Easy temperatures in September and October (unlike winter on which the cold can sometimes reach -40°C / -40°F at the most extreme).

-Northern lights reflecting into unfrozen lakes and rivers in September and October.

-Lower touristic season in September, October, March, meaning saving a lot of money in touristic activities, hotels… (on which the prices increase a lot in winter).

(reminder: The full northern light season is from mid August until mid April).

START: Anything between 3:00 p.m and midnight. The starting time depends on the estimated distance to drive, the solar activity, magnetic field, etc… I will update you during the day of your reservation once a decision can be taken regarding the starting time. Usually the final decision on the starting time is shared 30 min to 1 hour ahead.

END: it’s unpredictable and vary every night depending on several factors such as at what time we have northern lights and time to enjoy, take photos, distance to drive on the way back…

The colours and intensity of the Northern Lights vary from one night to an other.

In smaller cases northern light can appear grey to the naked eye but green on camera, it can be just one small and faint line without noticeable movement.

In best cases northern lights can appear very bright and colourful with naked eye, filling the whole sky and moving fast.

You have to be prepared for any intensity possible on your reserved night, it could be small or big or anything in between. Northern lights are not big every night.

More intense northern lights are and smaller is the difference of color and brightness between what you see with your eyes and what the camera can capture. With small northern lights you will be surprised how they appear on camera while they would be less visible with eyes. With big northern lights you will see them really well with your eyes and they can be very impressive.

Being in the arctic circle first of all.

I start all my hunts from Rovaniemi, Finland. But why Finland ? Because the country is super flat, giving us straight roads to drive efficiently to far distance if needed (unlike Norway or Iceland per example on which long distance take way more time because of the sea or mountains and could make you miss northern lights…).

Every night is a different place to be able to find northern lights. Sometimes we stay in Finland, and sometimes we drive through Sweden too…

Sometimes short distance driving is enough and sometimes several hours driving are required. There is not any specific “better place”, that’s why it’s called northern light “hunt” and not northern light “itinerary” (decisions about locations are taken accordingly during the hunt).

As soon as you are sure to join a northern light hunt with me. The latest you send me your booking request the less chances you get that I will have availability. It is possible to book days, weeks and even months in advance.

If we hunt on the first night and it wouldn’t work, we go on the next night for a second chance.

But if we don’t catch anything on both nights, it’s free for you.

Nights with small northern lights are still charged, however it’s free if we don’t catch any northern light at all.

Rovaniemi airport. (15 min driving from the city centre of Rovaniemi).

5-7 days to allow some flexibility in case of cloudy weather on the night of your booking (and the next night) resulting in cancellation.

Within the next few days, you can try to book another hunt with me if I have availability.

Furthermore, 5 to 7 days gives you time to enjoy other activities in Lapland.

-Keeping your reservation for 2 nights to allow more flexibility with the weather, to double your chances of having a successful hunt.

–Real Northern Light Hunter, making a living from successful hunt only. Free if I can’t capture any northern light on camera.

-No time limit to ensure you witness the Northern Lights.

-7 years of northern light hunts of experience, and countless years of photography.

-Small groups only (in general 8 max)

-Fluent in English and French