The Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland
8 March - 22 March 2026.
8 March - 22 March 2026.
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Prologue:
My 18th trip to Rovaniemi and Kätkävaara is about to start.
18 times. This trip will set the day counter of Aurora sightings to 181 (excluding day of homebound departure). That is 1.5 day short of half a year. But add to that number the days that I've been occupied with the Aurora at home and we come to many years. However, the intensity of the activities around the Aurora is 24/7 when I am in Lapland. Half a year is a full season according to my friend and senior Aurora Guide Anthony. The 'missing' days are what the guides also miss by weekends and days off. I can, and sometimes do, take over the role of senior guide telling the group of tourists the tales of the technical facts and Saami myths concerning the Aurora. Doing this while my cameras are both shooting away brings me to life, this is where and when I really thrive.
This year however there are complications. In a few months time my Guesthouse will be broken down. The room which is for special guests only has been my home for 14 times, almost 5 months all together. When I say goodbye to it on 22 March it will feel like an eviction.
The next thing is new management at Lapland Welcome, the safari company. Many changes to which my autistic side resists heavily and what makes me troublous.
Well... let's see where this will go. Yesterday morning I secured the upgrade of my flight home from economy to business, the flight at the start though is still waitlisted for upgrade. That will directly affect the way I have to pack my luggage as I can't take all my precious sensitive stuff in my backpack into the cabin. It's not a dealbreaker problem but it does add significant weight to my checked suitcases.
24 February 2026:
First contact
It sounds like a StarTrek movie😃🫣. Today I had a first conversation with the new owner of the Safari Company. Very positive indeed and it lifted the troublesome feelings while unfolding plans and ideas that we're going to assess in the two weeks that I'm there. Exciting!
Earthside the sun is spotless but on the farside is a huge spot slowly turning our way. If that spot persists (likely to be the notorious 4366 from 3 weeks ago) it will be there during my trip😃.
05-3-2026:
Businessclass for the first leg Amsterdam - Helsinki has been granted, weight of luggage is for the whole trip upgraded to 32kg per checked bag and 12kg for the cabin🥳. That means that my most vulnerable equipment stays with me. The return flight has already had its upgrade.
8 March: Game On!
On the move
I was picked up at 07:20 and we hit the road at 07:30 vanishing into a more than moderate fog the whole way to the airport. My plane left Helsinki for Amsterdam with a full hour delay and as it looks it wants to cut the two hour flight into 75 minutes😲. At this moment no delay expected in my departure. I went through baggage drop off and security swiftly and it was only there that I realized that I had forgotten my Lapland Welcome company vest with all my patches and... my stickers🤯 (See the image on top of this page) so my autistic part is protesting heavily knowing that things could be much worse. Starbucks provides solutions. I use the stickers to identify my luggage and sometimes I give one away. In the mean time the numbers concerning the flight into Amsterdam add up and are fitting again, no idea what has happened...
First event: tonights tour is confirmed!
The evening started with meeting a new guide; Matthias (Italian version so if I spell it wrong... scuse!). Nice guy with a lot of Italian clients so I kept a bit aside. The road was incredibly crowded but there is some kind of skiing holliday going on and everywhere along the roads people were trying to get a glimpse of the Aurora. Never ever in those 13 years I saw so many people gazing. At first quite pale but as we progressed both in time and geography (deeper into the wilderness where we know our way around) we left them all and saw the Aurora flame up. That happened while I was explaining to the clients where not to walk, saw the light suddenly glowing in the corner of my eye and broke off my sentence switching to urging them all out of the van!
When we resumed our trip we encountered a Black Grouse on the road side and a female Reindeer running for her life in that funny way that they do, like their feet are not well attached😄
The Aurora was dancing the rest of the evening not conforming to any theoretical parameters that the apps were providing. The show was not spectacular but better than a lot of people get to see so it was definitely worth the trip. I will show that performance later in a panoramic time lapse but that just takes time.
9 March:
Meeting the new owner
Today I met the new owner of Lapland Welcome the safari company that I team up with. We had a very good and long conversation and Mikael drew me a picture of the situation apologizing and explaining why it took him so long to contact me. There is a wild growth of 'safari companies' going on. That concurred with my observation of the many cars along the road last night. I was baffled by what Mikael told me: 600 companies are actual present in the Rovaniemi area. One is notorious illustrative being run by a Turkish owner stating that they are the original Aurora hunters in the vicinity. The truth: they know nothing and are there now in their third year.
Many of them all don't run an evening with clouds saying that the chances are zero. But... tourists often have only one opportunity in their whole life, so if there is a tiny hole in the cloud cover it may be THEIR chance... hanging on by their finger nails. Thing is to identify those people and get them to us as we have both the knowledge and the location where the chances are highest! That being said... we always point out the risk of no opening in the clouds.
We talked about lifting the knowledge of the guides so they outgrow being a driver and caterer and learn the real trade of guiding. Also image management came by as the archive just keeps getting bigger. So that is what I took on me, writing down my vision on both these subjects while I'm here.
The evening delivered a solid impenetrable cloud ceiling so I stayed at home and got along writing and no images to accompany this text. As the weather forecasts are not looking very well it may take a while before my date with Aurora can go on.
10 March:
Bad news
Sometimes you just have to accept things. Like when they're bigger than you and you can't do a fucking thing about it. The cloud formation is vast, thick and wet. Quite wet resulting in three days of rain starting Thursday. All the way up to Sunday all my computer models agree on a closed cloud deck. That has happened to me before and is exactly the reason why I stay here for 14 days. Statistically that would give you the best chance of getting any clear sky. And with the climate change I expect that to get worse as oceans warm up and that energy is going to evaporate astronomical amounts of water. Well that gives me the opportunity to write for the safari company and study some of my astronomy software and the new to arrive meteorology course. Tomorrow I will look into the harvest of my arrival evening. There must be a nice time lapse in there.
11 March:
The day is young and full of ideas.
But it started with huge compliments from the enthusiastic owner of Lapland Welcome. My writings are what he is looking for and we are getting closer to start a training program for Aurora guides. The weather forecast has not changed which is remarkable to some extend as the forecasts here normally have a lifespan between 15-60 minutes and closer to 15... So... on with the creative process of writing.
This period is the last moon of the season that is favourable. The next one will be when the nights are already quite short and astronomical darkness will not be reached anymore. So my choice of period was the only logical one though yes... early in March is not the very best. Late March has proven to be the best.
We are setting up exclusive events for connoisseurs of science, myths and past images. Next week a pilot will be done by taking clients to a dinner with my presentation about the Aurora and then go outside hoping to experience it all. When this proves to be succesful (to be defined) it may become a new tour. And Aurora guides will be trained with the knowledge of Anthony and me to grow out to be fully equipped Aurora Guides.
This evenings tour brought a big group consisting of 17 Dutch people in a group of 29. The surprising thing: they were told about my presence and my presentation. The real surprising thing... quite a few booked this night because of me despite they were told that chances were practically zero...
The big Dutch group were students with 3 teachers and they were quite loud on arrival. People that know me and my special needs understand why this bothered me. But once the total group was assembled and guide Topi had explained what the evening would look like and everyone had a drink I took over. I started telling the tale of the Northern Lights Which is actually larger than just the description of the Aurora Borealis. The first one has mythical elements, the latter is just physics. The group went silent... you could hear a pin drop... in the snow...
That silence impressed me.
Having told my tale and answered the first questions that popped up I even was applauded and that I haven't seen happening in all those 13 years. It is on a night like this that I miss Anthony because I know how we as a duo could have lifted it to a next level. Nothing is perfect...
I explained how to make the most of the little we had in terms of light that could light up the cloud and subsequently the surroundings and how to profit from the absent Moon. And really everyone followed that to the letter. Once as the end of our time was nearing phones were taken out being used as nothing was going to happen and then the proof of my instructions was there: some people were baffled by the light from their phones as they had been in darkness so long and their pupils were extremely wide open. Why they could see around them to some extend? Mainly starlight through the clouds. Stars and the Milky Way provide quite some light!
12 March:
Forecast forecast...
The weather forecasts have never been this solid and stable. Not here, not that I can remember... comparing 5 computer models on one screen results in only one that sees holes in the clouds on monday evening, a double check by a different perspective on that calculation shows it to be unreliable as in to optimistic. That computer model is the ICON-EU which ironically is my favourite. On the other hand... maybe it is the only one that is on the right track... all fingers and toes crossed🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼.
Having done some shopping for myself and grandkids, went by the office of Lapland Welcome I set my computer to work on the time lapse of last Sunday. This takes time. Illapsable time. So i am killing the needed time by reading about time: The Mystery Of Time by Carlo Rovelli. Not a novel but about the science around the phenomenon of time.
13 March:
Finally stitching 8 March time lapse
Computer perform long tasks best when you sleep so when I woke up I had all files ready to process in the stitching software. Provided that you know how to operate that. For a single panorama no problem but batch processing follows a path that I mainly use twice a year, here at Auroraland. So it's always a puzzle to figure out how to. Specifically now my brain is washed with astro... Well it keeps you on your toes and off the streets😄
I am giving this one some extra attention as it may be all I get this trip.
I have seldom had (if ever🤔) this bad (friday the 13th🌬️💨🌧️) weather, rain and heavy wind torture my appartement and forecasts stay surprisingly stable. Well back to my writing for Lapland Welcome and killing time by reading about it. In the mean time the stitching of 3198 files progresses steadily.
Short intermediate update: that time lapse will knock you off your socks when fully ready, the test looks gorgeous😍
The time lapse is ready. Not perfect due to a software problem but nothing is perfect.
14 March:
Frustration to the MAX
The finished time lapse is not ok. I've had, and solved, the problem before but that does nothing at the moment. Other things in the software don't do what they are supposed to do either and I can't help but feeling that the latest update has a part in that. At the moment I am quite done after 2,5 hours of attempting to solve the problem. Though the images here under are from the 8th I place them here, single stitches work strange but work.
The night didn't promise anything and after 23:30 even rain was forecasted. Well that worked out fine. When I was picked up at 21:10 the first rain started. And that is a worry, the roads are quite fine but Kätkävaara was one huge sheet of wet and thus extremely slippery ice. The only way to reach the field and the kota was by driving around the main building onto the field where Topi parked the car at the only possible place: tight beside the snow where walking was possible although this snow was one sort of pond of slush. There was an Aurora overhead which I was able to point out by letting the clients get used to the darkness like a few days ago. The sky was bright green...
15 March:
Star of the show
4 evenings have been organized specifically aimed at my presence. That is astonishing... the almost 20 years are wrong as it must be 13 years, don't know where they got that from. I am very honoured anyway. All that knowledge and all those images were accumulated partly by their enabling me to go along.
No tour is running tonight, the weather is persistent in its bad mood but tomorrow evening is looking somewhat better when I compare all 5 computer models so: 🤞🏼.
16 March:
Slow day, clouds for a change
Today was slow, my stay is boring. I mean... I am very valued by the company and the guides and they feel like friends but when I look up to those clouds I think... What the hell am I doing here??? Writing for the company I can do at home where I have Inge, my cave, my telescopes, my garden, my new government with a few scoundrels in the wrong position (though less than the former one I have to admit).
For the rest this is a waste of money. From my bag my camera's look at me with their huge eyes questioning my sanity why I bother to go out with those clouds.
The tour in the evening was a nice small and very interested group which makes up for the lack of light. There was a 
debatable tiny bit of green through the clouds but absolutely not usable for photos of the clients as I even doubt if it was Auroral light and if it was it has been a faint reflection of a distant arc. A weird photo with 1 visible star (somewhere at the position of Andromeda in the center of the photo) after pulling hard on the parameters in the software. But really weird are the sharp defined shadows of the trees behind me on the roof of the Kota. No Moon... so it must be a mirror-like cloud reflecting the city lighting of Tervola. A later photo showed a bright spot in the sky straight east. Position, brightness and definition say it was questionable to say the least and no that wasn't the Moon as the Moon is new and below the horizon.
17 March:
Day 9 of contiguous cloud cover driving me nuts.
If something can drive me insane it is doing something completely useless. And at this very moment it is being here. Oh I am occupied with all sorts of writing like this blog and important advice for the company but... I can do that from home. On top of that I could've done a load of other things and it would save a ton of money. Oh well, the guides are happy to finally meet me as I seem to have been the talk in their 'town' with my knowledge, experience and images and the new management is very happy with me as well so make no mistake: I'm very happy with that.
Finally the forecasts are all moving toward clear skies tomorrow and Thursday but tonight is looking to be another disaster being the 9th in a consecutive row. 8TB of storage perform a louder and longer echo than the skull of Donald Trump😖.
And the Aurora? She must be saving energy for cycle 26 ascending the Gleissberg cycle. The spots are just dust specks and coronal holes are on vacation or shopping or whatever but not there where you want them. And it has been only a year since the top of cycle 25...
I know I am reflecting on a very short period of the whole season but still this doesn't add up and that is confirmed by the locals. Weak or moderate lights are the standard, no problem. But climate change is devastating. This is not the first year nor the only geographical region with derailed cloud production and slushy slippery snow because of a way to high temperature. We really are destroying our spaceship called Earth. To be honest... all in all... I'll be glad to board my flight home this time.
The evening had no tour. No wonder... closed deck so why book a tour. Green clouds are the alternative if it is your last night but else... So I spend the evening watching some tech stuff video's about the now complete Apple Silicon M5-series chips which confirmed again that I choose the exact right version of the M1 four years ago. It still scores high in relevant tests on photography. And a video about an astrophotography computer that was a poor competition to the ASI Air (Plus) and has made huge improvements, not there yet but much better.
18 March:
Forecasts getting Lappish againThe weather forecasts are showing a growing uncertainty as the clearing sky is moving ahead in the week. You know... like a dumb donkey with a carrot on a fishing rod?
Tonight's clear sky is looking like it will be about half of it while the half one of tomorrow is now forecasted as clear...
I am following the 5 calculation models every hour's updates and it seems to improve 🤞🏼
And yes the sky will be clear tonight according to the computer models. But... no clients so no Kätkavaara😭. Well that will be a walk to the Ounasjoki then, the river coming from the north-west flowing into the Kemijoki in Rovaniemi. But... again a but... butbutbut... all parameters are off... all of them so chances are like 0, zero, noppes, nil😢. Well not really zero as the Aurora never lives up to the parameters but very likely? No not really. Well that is what we in The Netherlands call the luck that comes with a breakdown. Or as famous Johan Cruyff would say: "Every disadvantage has its advantage." Meaning that this saves me a trip up to Kätkävaara for nothing. Let's see what happens in the rest of the evening (now 19:52 local time).
Sometime around 22:45 I saw a flip in the magnetic polarity of the solar wind coming our way and though the rest of the parameters were all off I trusted my experience, mounted my shoes and ordered them to get me at the other end of the town. Having setup my gear half an hour later (just one camera as the scenery doesn't fit a panoramic view) the Aurora appeared and... much brighter than I anticipated. She is always in for a surprise🥰.
19 March:
A rainbow is taking shape in my heart
The end of my trip is nearing and so is my stay at Guesthouse Borealis. Only... the latter one is definitive😢. The Guesthouse will be replaced with an AirBnB directed appartement building. Japanese culture thanks things that have served people. So will I thank Borealis for being my home on 15 of my 18 trips here. It is also an autistic characteristic to have a relationship with things and moments rather than people. Having said that I will miss the owners Saila and Eero and the staff but Saila is busy with replacement and will keep me informed.
There is quite a technical story to thanking the building as well: everything in the Universe is made of one thing only and that is Neutrons. Either as a Neutron or as a Proton with an Electron being the rough building blocks of the Neutron. The composition and constellation of those that form me have the ability to think and communicate. The ones that form Borealis don't have that option. So I am obliged to thank them for taking care of me...☔️
Today the EPAM monitor is standby as is the cloud forecast. Sometime around 14:00 the CME from sunspot 4392 will impact our atmosphere and will most likely trigger a low level geomagnetic storm. There is a chance that my camera can pick that up so from the moment the shockwave hits us I'll be out to take pictures of the blue sky testing if my camera's sensor is sensitive enough to pick up what our eyes definitely cannot see.
The EPAM-monitor and the magnetometers are still quiet. EPAM is rumbling a bit between 06:00 and 12:00 UTC but that is all. The stackplot of European magnetometers shows a wave pattern between 06:00 and 15:00 UTC so maybe that was it. Now that doesn't mean nothing is happening but the arrival all apps were bragging about is either not here yet or has dissipated and spread into a homogeneous mush.
Anyway... there is a tour going tonight so let's see what to harvest.
Accomodation for at least my next two visits is an issue. Saila keeps me posted about the actuality of the building project but needing a backup plan I'm thinking of the northern branch of the safari company: the city of Saariselkä 257km to the north but that is some 35 km from the Airport of Ivalo... so degraded to plan C.
The evening brought a crystal clear sky and the parameters were dead. Just plain dead. At the start there was at least a very far and faint classic arc of green and red but that was it. I could barely make 200 shots for a short time lapse but that was it. Browsing the lot I knew there had to be one with an airplane taking off from Rovaniemi Airport and to my surprise it turned out to be a very impressive composition:
The last one shows the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Pleiades Star Cluster (M45)
20 March:
34 years of Justin
Today is the birthday of my son Justin. I used to plan my Lapland March trips every other year avoiding his birthday until he told me to go no matter what. When he was younger I called him at midnight from Kätkävaara with a crowd shouting "Happy Birthday Justin!!!". You both have a marvelous day 😘!
The evening was finally one as an evening here ought to be. A huge display. I am writing this on the 21st and I am quite busy today so the rest will follow later.
For other pictures look at this album
21 March:
Last full day of the trip.
Today has been a busy day so far. Sorting out part of the 3903 photos of last night, conference with the new owner of Lapland Welcome, making backups of my photos and website, Anthony came by and the day was gone. I have already started packing and I just finished checking in on my flights tomorrow.
The cloud forecast for tonight is only positive for 1 of 5 models, the only good thing about it is that the one showing an open sky is the ECMWF being the best one in Europe and likely even of the whole world. So 🤞🏼 and go!
Chances are a bit less by now but I have good hopes for the arrival of the stream from the Coronal Hole. That could be a nice goodbye to this trip.
And what an evening start it was😍! Kind of busy right now at the airport so images will follow later
What happened was the arrival of the stream from the coronal hole and it produced a small green base with huge purple an d blue corona forming curtains above it. So yes that was a good ending of ten horrible days out of 14. By the time we reached our destination the lights were already getting significantly less. Anyway... I don't leave Lapland empty handed. The counter of my days here in Lapland is now 181 so only 36 hours short of half a year. If I'm already a veteran is open for debate but when people designate you that title I guess you are.
22 March:
Finnair: good flying but AGAIN terrible backoffice
I've been flying business class for quite some years now and Checked bags always had a max of 32kg. I checked this extra at Amsterdam before I left home on 8 March. Now at Rovaniemi it suddenly was subjected to 'new rules' which determine that within Europe the max is 23kg... Finnair... again change of rules without notice? you picked the wrong fight. And here comes the rediculous thing: A kilo overweight (it is just one kilo) would cost me €65 while an extra bag of 23kg would cost only €40...🤬
After some 15 minutes of upholding the line and a lot of talking from me and her colleagues she waived my kilogram🥳😈
Oh and I got notified that they are sorry that I got another seat... which I changed myself🤣
And then things went wrong and I lost a part of what I wrote...
Well anyway... let's see what I can process of those pictures while I'm airborne...
Epilogue:
Arrived at home safely last night around 20:30hrs. Work and some other things jumped on me this morning so I will write this last part somewhere today or tomorrow.
First: the images of Saturday. The last day. I have processed a few as there are so many! Also something like 3 time lapses so I will be occupied for quite some time to get everything done. Here are two of them:
This trip was a harsh confrontation with the new 'atmosphere' in the town of Rovaniemi. 'Safari companies' everywhere competing each other out of each others way. This without any regulation has to end in a lot of bankruptcies and the only important thing to do right now is taking care that you will outlive them all and survive in the long run.
As soon as I know what the status of my Guesthouse is I will book for September. There are complaint procedures running against the replacement of it so it is looking like the needed time may lead to another year of Borealis but the general opinion for now is that it's only delay of execution.
Additional: I filed a complaint at Finnair because of their poor communication. Let's see what their reply (1-4 weeks, usually more) will be to this:
I have used upgrades to business class multiple times. At one point in time the checked bags did no longer show 32kgs on the app and ticket but inquiry with your personnel ensured me every time that it was still 32kgs and so did the personnel at the baggage drop off point. I even made that inquiry when I left AMS at 8 March 2026, and they confirmed.
When I went for my return flight last Sunday 22 March 2026 the policy had changed to 23 kgs, that I was told by personnel at the drop off at RVN. I was not notified about this sudden change, not at that moment, not in the two weeks in between, not at upgrading, not at purchasing the tickets. Never. I had two checked bags 23.7 and 24.7 kgs. And the even more curious thing... That 1 kg overweight was to be charged with €65 while re-packing in a 3rd bag of 23kg would only cost me €40... oh wait... €45 because that was raised as well in those 2 weeks. After a lot of discussing with me and the lady at the counter and her colleague about this not notified change and the unclear communication on tickets in the past years she decided to waive the 1 kg. She did what Finnair should have done... She cleaned up Finnair's mess.
On top of that more had changed. On 8 March there still was the cinnamon bun and chocolate at the end of the flight, they were not there at the 22nd. It is a tiny detail but it is there. The business class also lost the champaign two? 1.5? years ago, which shows it is crumbling. Which by the way is a ridiculous thing when you think of the fact that the BC-seat in a narrow body takes away half a passenger where in the A330/350 it does with 5 pax. So if anywhere those details should be in place it is in the tiny extra space that a narrow body 'offers'.
Your planes, flying personnel, slot windows and flight time definitions are superb. But your policies, communication and backoffice suck... I have no other word for it. Making clear what is wrong does not work by using words and expressions that do not directly address the problems. So no... this is not a gentle text. But it carries an important message: get your communication straight!