Very high aurora forecast for Aug 18

We had a fabulous light show over this past weekend in Southeastern British Columbia. We just happened to be coming home late at night from a buddies Cabin at a mountain lake, and they were in front of us for about 20 minutes.

Bobs, I feel your pain. Whenever we need to see some stars (especially the Milky Way), we have to drive for three hours to get to really dark sky. I live in coastal Orange County, not far from Los Angeles. The light pollution is so intense that we can barely see the brightest stars from our back yard.

And as for the aurora, we'd have to drive for more than a week to get to the real North country.

Well that was a total waste of time and gas....

I drove way out into the countryside southeast of Calgary, and nothing, zilch, nada...

Even though I was about 45 miles away, the intense glow of the city was very visible. And there were lights everywhere, farms, ranches, little communities etc.

I got out of my car and scanned the horizon, but saw nothing.
Oh well, I tried. Would have been nice to see it.

Had a good look at the stars though. Even managed a phone pic of the Big Dipper

cptqueeg wrote:
Forecast for central Idaho is cloudy, which is a shame.

That happens all the time to us, every time there is an eclipse or some other Celestial Phenomenon, always cloudy. :(

We are planning to head out of the city late this evening to see if we can find a viewing spot. Weather forecast is for clear skies here.

Biggest challenge is driving far enough to get away from the light pollution. Calgary area up through Edmonton is heavily lit.
If we head west, say to Banff area, there are a lot of trees in the way.
We'll likely head southeast of Calgary and find a farmers field or something to sit in.

I will bring my DSLR and long lens.

Forecast for central Idaho is cloudy, which is a shame.

Best I ever saw was in N Ontario. The sky was all lite up. The mosquitoes were the size of small humming birds. I didn’t last long.

Would be nice to see them again, maybe for the last time.
Saw them once a lot of years ago, (maybe 45years +/- ) while fishing one night in Northern NY.

I am 71 now but my first trip to Banff when I was 20, the 'light show' was fantastic. Everyone was out watching on the sidewalk in town. Thats how bright it was and it was moving from horizon to horizon or mountain to mountain across the valley sky. Locals said it was very unusual. It was cool being 20 years old while in Banff. Those were the days.

That would be nice to see.
I'm in Calgary, way in the deep south of the city, so have to drive a ways to get away from the city lights.
Going to check it out.

When I lived in Edmonton and Cold Lake as a kid I used to see some spectacular shows.

Thanks for posting.