Off and running

If ever there was a call for beginning tour early, this night was it.

The probable any-moment-now arrival of a CME and bad weather inbound meant we got on the run early to get ourselves out of town and as far away from incoming cloud as we could.

The anticipated solar storm did reach us, but in a complicated mess of conditions didn’t spark quite the auroras that were being forecasted. But in the mess of all of that, gorgeous colours, very subtle to the naked eye, filled the entire sky through the course of the night.

As we were packing up to begin our drive back, there had become an obvious hint of forest fire smoke in the air, and by the time we arrived back to town that smoke was dense and almost eye watering.

The warm autumn temperatures have been so enjoyable on tour, but a part of me can’t wait for the cold winter nights of fresh, crisp, and clean air.

The aurora chase high

I usually will surrender to about the next 36 hours of weather, of cloud forecast maps. The night immediately ahead, and then the next night or sometimes 2, but never really more than that. Anything further out probably isn’t worth the energy, especially this time of the year. I like knowing what’s immediately around the corner, it’s good to keep an eye on that, and notice trends, but anything more than a couple days away is just not worth worrying over.

For this night, it was probable we’d see the clouds clear overnight, but not until late. So I picked up my guests about an hour later than usual and we headed straight out to meet the cloud cover beginning to break. Within an hour, there was more clear sky than cloud and the soon after the aurora was spectacular overhead. It felt like it danced forever and this natural high just wouldn’t leave me. It was everything I love so much about this lifestyle.

This is my 11th year chasing the aurora every night, of doing this as my career, and I know not every night will be so fortunate. I know there will be nights without such clarity and such opportunity. There will be nights we are socked in under cloud in every direction. For now though, the nights like these are just the best. They are exactly why I fell so in love with the aurora chase, and why after 18 years since my first chase, I remain so in love with it.

An easy could-have-been all nighter

It was coming up to 3:30 when I finally had to begin folding up tripods, again, for the last time. It was a live transition from ‘obsessively photograph everything’ to a more humbled amazement at what a night we’ve had. Warms winds - genuinely warm winds - no mosquitos, and time and time over - breathtaking aurora that danced over us. This was the best of autumn nights.

And it could have easily enough been an all-nighter through to sunrise, which wasn’t all that far away by the end, but I did need to sleep and do this all over again tomorrow still.

A hot mess

Everything was looking perfect mid-afternoon. Clear blue sky, not a hint of smoke in the air and clear skies forecasted for the next several days and nights. We were beginning a few day heatwave - something I would begrudgingly tolerate if it meant clear sky at night.

Temperatures were into the high 20s, 29 today, which turned my spare bedroom yoga space into a full blown hot yoga studio.

Hard pass, thanks.

I’ll get back to my slave driver Jessica on Fitness+ in a couple days again when the whole upstairs isn’t a smokey sauna.

So a short escape out of town late did yield much better sky clarity. The forest fire smoke had cleared for several hours before rolling back in ending our night a little earlier than usual, but all things considered, we were very, very lucky in our timing.

Well practiced patience

My guests this night had been out the previous two nights already.

Their first night, my previous post, was a long, patient night resulting in ultimately a quiet night of auroral activity. Beautiful still, but definitely quiet.

Their second night, they waited out a thunderstorm for clearing skies to reveal a beautiful display of the northern lights. I enjoyed this night so much from home on a night off, running from window to window watching incredible lightning flashes and rumbles of thunder.

Then finally with me, our night started once again very quietly, to in all honesty, rather poor aurora conditions. But after a few hours and a lot of patience, the aurora danced beautifully overhead showing subtle colour to the naked eye. The wait was so, so worth it - as it always, always is.