As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are hoping to go to the far North in early December because the aurora will be at its peak, and so is Comet ISON (supposedly). But in doing my homework, I have discovered that almost all of the major towns in the North usually have heavy cloud cover in early December -- roughly 80 to 90 percent of the time!So that is my question -- is there an area that is known to be relatively cloud free at that time of year? Thanks in advance for your advice!

"Major Towns" = ?????Many locations (not necessarily towns, but locations) on the road system in Alaska don't have unduly heavy cloud cover in December. While any specific day can vary, from recent personal experience, I was driving between Eureka and Glenallen in early December (may actually have been the last day of November) about 8:00 pm in 2011 and there were some pretty fantastic aurora displays. Similarly, circa Dec. 12, I was driving between Talkeetna and Squarebanks sometime between 1430 - 2200 and the sky was crystal clear. No aurora that night, but the sky was clear. On that same trip, although it was in the early a.m. on the following day, once I got out of the Ice Fog/Smog of Fairbanks, the sky was again clear on the Richardson Highway.

"Major town" means "someplace with an airport." We plan to rent an SUV and then drive to a remote inn, maybe.

There are some B&Bs in the Fairbanks area that tend to specialize in the winter northern lights watching. Forum member, Cleary, AKA Chuck Johnson and his wife, were running such a place. If they have retired, then he could tell you some names to contact.Most of Interior Alaska tends to be cloudless once the cold of winter settles into the area. Just not enough moisture in the air to form clouds, but as PA12 mentions, that could change on a day to day basis.Alaska Airlines flies into Fairbanks on a daily basis, but I wouldn't recommend trying to use an RV in winter time Interior Alaska. A car and a B&B or hotel would be the answer. Also consider Chena Hot Springs as a location, about an hour's drive northeast of Fairbanks. I have been at the Bettles Field Lodge in the winter and have seen some outstanding northern lights. No light pollution once you are away from the larger communities.Forum member, geewizard, who hangs out on the truck camper section at times, is/was an employee of the US Weather Bureau and works out of the U of Alaska in Fairbanks. He would also be a good source of info if you are considering Interior Alaska.

Try Yellowknife, NT for excellent viewing.....good airline connections.

Given the criteria, if you want to head to Alaska, based only on my experience, it would work to - fly in to Anchorage and drive towards Glennallen on the Glenn highway: I've seen quite a bit of aurora activity from the Eureka area; or- fly in to Anchorage and drive to Fairbanks on the Parks highway; the Cantwell/Healy/Glitter Gulch area has also had some good aurora viewing in December;- Fly to Fairbanks and go from there: Chena Hot Springs, Clear, etc are all near to Fairbanks and offer some reasonable infrastructure (B&B's, on the road system, etc) while being removed from most of the light pollution of Fairbanks. I would think that Anchorage - Glenallen - Delta - Fairbanks would be the better driving route if you wanted to take a day or two on the way to Fairbanks to try and catch the aurora. If you're just driving directly to Fairbanks, the Parks is the faster route. Whether in and around Fairbanks or a driving trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks, if it's in December, you'll be experiencing some winter. Best to be prepared. I drove to Valdez two winters ago and thought I would spend the night in Glenallen.....when it was -35 at 3:00 in the afternoon, I figured I'd just keep rolling to Valdez. It was -5 at Valdez, but that just felt a lot warmer.

Where are the clearest December skies in the Arctic?

14 Replies

LenSatic
Explorer
Aug 16, 2013
profdant139 wrote:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are hoping to go to the far North in early December because the aurora will be at its peak, and so is Comet ISON (supposedly).

Looks like ISON will be a bust: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Comet-ISON-Recovered-and-Not-Looking-Good-219432571.html

Sky&Tel wrote:
In the lightcurve prediction graph presented by Scarmato, Morales and Gary, their green line corresponds to typical "new" comet behavior. Note that this suggests the comet's brightness barely ever breaks the naked-eye barrier, even at perihelion!

Further, if one accepts anything like the green line's absolute magnitude of +9.73 for the comet, then ISON has no chance of surviving its perihelion, based on my paper "Post-Perihelion Survival of Comets with Small q" (International Comet Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3, July 1991).

Bruce Gary lives near me, but we've never met. I sleep when he's awake. :)

LS
Orion
Explorer
Aug 16, 2013
Yes , thanks, I do actually have 'Weatherspark' bookmarked, but I'm sure that when I tried to look up Edmonton it said something like 'These figures not recorded for this location' which is odd as Edmonton is a big city. I then looked up Fort St. John, which is much smaller, but it showed the figures, but they weren't any good either.
Now, if I look it up, I get the one you got!
sue_t
Explorer
Aug 16, 2013
The polar bears are a problem in summer at Churchill, when there isn't enough ice to sustain their hunting/eating/living. The polar ice has diminished to the point the polar bears become land-based in summer. They're still learning how to hunt on land; the grizzlies could likely give lessons to the polars.

In winter, they're far off on the ice hunting. No need to hang around people at Churchill.
profdant139
Explorer II
Aug 16, 2013
Orion, check this out -- these folks have monthly and yearly charts of cloud cover and a lot more, for many locations:

Weatherspark

Having said that, their charts are not promising for most of the Far North for December!! So that is why I am asking for local knowledge -- are there areas known to be less cloudy? For example, in California, if you are west of the Sierra, there may be fog, while east of the Sierra it will be clear. But I am not familiar with the flow patterns of the Arctic.
Orion
Explorer
Aug 15, 2013
This thread has really frustrated me as I feel that I should be able to give a good answer as I have been interested in the weather for a long time. There just seems to be a lack of info on monthly cloud cover for many locations.
I would have thought Edmonton would be good and maybe a little easier and or cheaper to get to. At least if you go there and it's cloudy, you could always go to the Mall!;)
wilber1
Explorer
Aug 15, 2013
Another vote for Yellowknife. Imagine Churchill would be good to but never been there. The farther one gets from a marine climate during the winter, the more likely to have clear skies

Link

We also used to get some really good winter displays in Edmonton when we lived there.
profdant139
Explorer II
Aug 15, 2013
Great tips, folks! I never would have found Bettles on my own. And Churchill is a great idea, except for the polar bears. Maybe they are hibernating in December . . . .
sue_t
Explorer
Aug 14, 2013
Churchill, Manitoba is located directly beneath the aurora oval. With more than three hundred nights of auroral activity, Churchill is the best spot on the planet to view the northern lights.

Most of the fantastic shots I see online were taken at or near Churchill.
FishHaggis
Explorer
Aug 14, 2013
Yellowknife. great aurora viewing and they are set up well for tourists wanting to see them.
PA12DRVR
Explorer
Aug 14, 2013
Given the criteria, if you want to head to Alaska, based only on my experience, it would work to

- fly in to Anchorage and drive towards Glennallen on the Glenn highway: I've seen quite a bit of aurora activity from the Eureka area; or
- fly in to Anchorage and drive to Fairbanks on the Parks highway; the Cantwell/Healy/Glitter Gulch area has also had some good aurora viewing in December;
- Fly to Fairbanks and go from there: Chena Hot Springs, Clear, etc are all near to Fairbanks and offer some reasonable infrastructure (B&B's, on the road system, etc) while being removed from most of the light pollution of Fairbanks.

I would think that Anchorage - Glenallen - Delta - Fairbanks would be the better driving route if you wanted to take a day or two on the way to Fairbanks to try and catch the aurora. If you're just driving directly to Fairbanks, the Parks is the faster route.

Whether in and around Fairbanks or a driving trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks, if it's in December, you'll be experiencing some winter. Best to be prepared. I drove to Valdez two winters ago and thought I would spend the night in Glenallen.....when it was -35 at 3:00 in the afternoon, I figured I'd just keep rolling to Valdez. It was -5 at Valdez, but that just felt a lot warmer.