Northern Lights

Iceland and Norway may dazzle with northern-lights displays, but you don’t have to go abroad to enjoy a night beneath auroras. These kaleidoscopic swirls dance above the U.S.’s northernmost states—and we’re not just talking about northern-lights hunting in Alaska.

If and when the conditions are right, you can catch auroras in most northern-border states such as Maine or Montana. And catching the lights here isn’t merely a pipe dream: In early October 2021, northern lights painted the skies from New Hampshire to Glacier National Park. One month before that, aurora hunters caught them in North Dakota. And they danced as low as Muskegon, Michigan, in the spring.

Aurora experts say there’s more where that came from. The sun sparks northern lights during solar storms, when it emits charged particles that collide with Earth’s atmosphere, creating the glowing green, purple, and even red displays that top travelers’ bucket lists. In December 2019, the sun entered a new cycle of solar activity—and this transition bodes well for those eager to spot auroras.

“The solar cycle is associated with an increase in solar activity,” says Mike Shaw, an astrophotographer and co-founder of the annual Aurora Summit. Each solar cycle is roughly 11 years long; the mid-point, roughly five years in, is the peak of northern-lights activity, known as solar maximum. “A new cycle correspondingly increases aurora activity, so the next several years will be much better than the last several years,” Shaw says.
How (and where) to find U.S. northern lights

Whether it’s Norway or North Dakota, the same aurora-hunting guidelines apply: Look for a place with dark, clear skies and minimal obstructions to the north, where auroras appear. And unlike high-latitude locales like Iceland, the lower 48 enjoys nighttime darkness all year—that means aurora sightings can happen year-round. READ MORE...