How come I can never see the Northern Lights from where I live?

You know how it is: Popular articles (like ours) claim that the Northern Lights, the dazzling phenomenon scientifically known as the aurora borealis, can be seen in areas where they are normally invisible. People who grew up with photos of spectacular views like this start dreaming, maybe set an alarm to go out late at night, maybe drive outside their city limits to try to avoid light pollution. But then their dream fades away and all they see is a cloudy, ordinary sky. What’s going on?

Read more: The Northern Lights Are Returning: How to See the Aurora Borealis This Week

First, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues a notice that a geomagnetic storm is expected, check the numerical level assigned to it. That recent aurora from May 10-11 seen by so many people scored a G5, the highest level. Storms that aren’t ranked this high won’t be as easy for many people to see. And of course, the aurora is usually only visible from very northern locations, although some storms push the boundaries further south.

But so often, as I wrote in 2020 when there was high expectations for seeing aurora, the forecast changes, the northern lights become shy and people are disappointed. Is this all a spacey scam?

Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, spoke to me in 2022 about aurora disappointments. He knows all too well that many of us aspiring polar spotters are disappointed time and time again.

Seems suspicious to me

Murtagh compared it to a conversation he recently had with a marlin fisherman. He asked them how many hours they spent on the water hoping for a big catch and how often they actually succeeded.

“(Fishing) is like (looking for) an aurora,” Murtagh told me. “You can hunt for it for hours, and then the perfect storm of events comes and you finally see it.”

Disadvantage of the city

If you live in a city — Murtagh spoke to me from Boulder, Colorado, while I live in Seattle — you’re already at a disadvantage.

“People say to me, ‘I went looking for (the aurora) and I didn’t see anything!'” Murtagh told me. “And I say, ‘Well, where were you?’ And they say, ‘Downtown Denver.’ Ah, well, there’s this thing called light pollution…”

Light pollution is pretty much what it sounds like, the lighting up of the city night sky from street lights and other sources, which hinders our ability to see stars and planets.

Cloudiness can be a problem

But let’s say you get in the car and drive out of your city or suburb and into a rural area with no street lights. There’s one element you can’t control: the weather.

“If you have some kind of Washington state, [weather pattern]“Good luck,” Murtagh said with a laugh, referring to my state’s notorious cloud cover. And clouds can roll in at any time in any state, making it even harder to predict aurora borealis.

Do you still want to try it?

And when exactly should you go out to see the aurora? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a block of time when the aurora is most likely to be there? Murtagh said that’s not realistic. You want it to be dark, but that’s about as specific as predictions can get.

“There is actually no specific time [that’s best]”, he told me. “Don’t let anyone tell you, ‘This time or that time you’re going to see it.'”

Aurora tourism

If seeing the Northern Lights is on your bucket list and you have the travel money, consider a trip to Alaska or Northern Canada, or even Northern Europe.

“Anchorage, Fairbanks, Yukon, Helsinki, Northern Scandinavia, those are the places where you have a great chance of seeing (the Northern Lights),” Murtagh said.

There are now even travel planners who organize tours in the hope of seeing the Northern Lights.

“Aurora tourism is a big business now,” says Murtagh.

Is it worth it?

So, since it remains difficult to see an aurora, why do so many of us yearn to see them? Take another look at some of those beautiful photos and you might be reminded.

“They’re just so majestic,” Murtagh said. “To see the sky ripple in shades of green and yellow, sometimes red and purple. It’s sometimes terrifying to see. Anyone who’s lucky enough to see it in all its glory knows.”

Don’t lose faith

That said, we’re in a golden age for seeing the aurora now, Murtagh said. If we’d talked about hunting the aurora every month from 2018 to 2020, there would have been almost no news to report. That’s when the sun was experiencing solar minimum, the normal period of its 11-year solar cycle when there’s almost no solar activity, such as sunspots and solar flares.

But a solar maximum is now occurring that is expected to last until 2025.

“There will be more opportunities,” Murtagh said. “And more false alarms too!”