multi cellular thunderstorm
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Unsure whether I should still make my planned journey up to County Durham tomorrow afternoon, or stop here for the weekend. Nottingham might be slightly marginal and slightly too far east, but Durham might be too far north and east but not marginal.
It could be a fun drive on higher parts of the M1/A1 though!
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Here are a few of photos from our trip to Iceland, just to prove although we had bad luck with the Northern Lights, it wasn't all bad...
More on my mpphotographics facebook page, you don't need to like the page to see them...
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Back in Nottingham now and feeling a bit frustrated with our bad luck, although we did have an amazing time exploring Iceland. I will upload a few pics probably tomorrow.
As for the northern lights...
Night 1 - Cloudy and wet. KP was very low anyway.
Night 2 - Clear for the first part of the night, no aurora, clouds over about 1am and it seems the aurora got going at about 2-3am.
Night 3 - Cloudy, aurora should have been visible had it been clear.
Night 4 - Cloudy, this is the night Arron got his photos, we were again stuck under a blanket of cloud.
Night 5 - Clear, no aurora visible, although with a 04:15 start for the journey home, we didn't head out of town but it seems the aurora was very weak anyway.
First night back in the UK, strong displays over Abisko and clear skies over Iceland indicate that we almost certainly would have seen them from Iceland.
Just really unlucky timing for us, cloudy nights coming at the worst time. That's what we get for choosing Iceland though, far more chance of cloud spoiling things, but still what an amazing country. We will be back to Iceland without a doubt.
Nice to see Arron got to see them though, not jealous at all!
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Well done Arron, nice pic.
Not sure what to do tonight, we are sitting waiting and nearly falling asleep already. Driven a long way today back to Reykjavic for our flight home, we are both so tired and have to be up at about 04:15!
Can't see anything from our north facing window, but we are looking over the city so wondering if it's worth a 20 minute drive out into some proper darkness...
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No go here yet
too much cloud about and it seems to be covering finland! Abisko is lit up though looking at the camera there's plenty time yet but not looking good now for tonight. The joys of aurora chasing!It's so frustrating!
Hope it clears for you, no hope here in Southern Iceland, thick cloud pouring in off the Atlantic from now until Sunday it seems.
Such a good display in Abisko on the webcam.
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Sat in Helsinki waiting for our flight up. Looking good for tonight and tomorrow and looking at the radar skies are clearing, just hope it continues. Noaa going for a 35% chance for tonight
Mark, not sure where you're based but someone posted this up at spaceweather from last night in icelandhttp://spaceweather....upload_id=76340
Debating wether to hire a car or not when we land :/ Good luck for tonight, happy hunting!
Lovely pic although a bit frustrating to see.
We last checked at about 01:30 and they weren't visible and the cloud was rolling in, that photo was taken after 3am and further north west of us, we are currently in Fludir in South Iceland.
On our way back to the hotel in the last half hour there was the odd small break in the cloud, but it's forecast to be overcast tonight and tomorrow so we don't have high hopes. Probably will still have a drive out later and see if there are any holes around.
Sunday looks possibly clearer but just hoping the stronger activity will linger until then, that's our last night.
Good luck with your hunting Arron.
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Pleased you got to see them Quentin.
No such luck here so far, we are under clear skies for now but cloud is moving in soon and so far nothing, not even a slight glow. The auroral oval looked really good too and with last nights display for you and at Abisko happening at KP1, I can't see why the same can't happen tonight at KP2 (now 1). Just doesn't seem to be happening for whatever reason.
Next few days look better in terms of activity, but typically this cloud moving in tonight doesn't look like shifting until maybe Sunday, our last night here.
Still had an amazing day today at the Geysirs and Gullfoss Waterfall in sunshine and snow, lovely weather.
Hope Arron gets to see them in the next few days, if it's clear there I think he will get a good show tomorrow and saturday.
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Sunspot 1667 just put out a decent flare reaching C8.7, not far from an M class flare.
Could be good news, but I'm unsure when any CME would be due to hit.
Must pack then get to bed, got to be up in 3 hours!
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remember Iceland is usually under the Aurora oval and if the sky is clear something usually will be visible at some time even when the sun is not very active
look north take some photos your camera may see something that the eye doesn't you may find the Aurora is even overhead or to the south
so scan the sky carefully
most IMPORTANT take any filters off your lens or you will get concentric rings in your images that you will not be able to edit out
shoot in raw so you can colour correct easy
or if you want to shoot in jpegs if there are any street lights or amber in the sky set white balance on a canon to tungsten
seem to work best apparently
Thanks a lot for the tips Pete, I have never tried shooting in RAW before but my memory cards are all clear so I think this time I will try it. The thing I'm worried about is the amount of time my camera takes processing each shot.
I think the main problem will be cloud at the moment though, Thursday could well be the only night with clear spells, but only up until about 9pm. Plenty of time for change, but I'm not building my hopes up too much. Just hope we get some decent weather for seeing the waterfalls and everything else.
1667 has died off so that's not going to help us. Looking at Abisko tonight it's quite quiet aurora wise so far. Next surge looks more towards the end of the week.
So for my flight tomorrow night is looking a tad on the low side as KP index is currently 1!
Oh well, we shall see, still got 24 hours to improve.
Hope you get to see something, at least you will be above the clouds.
I imagine it's more difficult to take photos from a plane, but must be an amazing sight.
Hope it goes well.
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It's a flight out of Bournemouth up and then towards greenland and back. Best chance there is to miss the clouds. Now I'm hoping that AR1667 fires up as it turns earthbound, to improve things.
Although it has to be said I've been watching the aurora at Abisko tonight and some good stuff going on there before it went overcast.
Sounds good, at least you won't be stuck under cloud like me.
It's looking quite likely that we could be stuck under cloud about 90% of our time there!
We arrive at 10:20 on Wednesday night so you might even go over us!
Good luck.
Hi an good luck
Iceland is a place I will visit one day,take plenty of money its not a cheap place to visit? As for the driving,take your time don't rush and it will be second nature before you know itThanks, yes we are taking plenty of money, 100,000 of their currency, about £550 in ours. We are hoping that's enough for 4 full days and 5 nights.
As for the driving, I'm just about to start watching some more videos and reading about the road signs etc, still nervous about that!
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Here's hoping the current activity peaks Weds night as I'm Aurora chasing south of Greenland & Iceland....
Nice, how long are you away? Is it a cruise?
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Suddenly there is some optimism with regards to solar activity.
This is from Spaceweather.com tonight...
SUNSPOT OF INTEREST: A break in the quiet could be in the offing. Sunspot AR1667 is crackling with C-class solar flares and appears capable of producing an even stronger M-class eruption. The sunspot is turning toward Earth, so future blasts would likely be geoeffective.The weather in Iceland however is looking pretty unsettled, at the moment looking at the charts I think we will be lucky to get 1 or 2 clear nights out of the 5.
I suspect Arron will do much better being in an area which is more prone to clear skies.
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We're off back to finland on the thursday 8th, I might start a thread too! Staying in Helsinki and then up to Ivalo till Tuesday. Again my hopes are not that high unlike last year, but -20c predicted when we arrive so should be fun! Fingers crossed for ya!
Yes you should definitely start a thread too!
You will have a higher chance than me, more chance of clear skies and further north, so good luck.
Or we could always change this to a virtual aurora chase thread lol, I don't mind either way
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Following on from Tom's attempt to see the illusive northern lights, I thought I would also start a thread for anyone interested in following my attempt.
I am going with my girlfriend next Wednesday 6th February and staying there for 5 nights, 1st and last in Reykjavik, and middle three nights in Fludir which is further inland and more remote. We are renting a car, which I am very nervous about, I have never driven a left hand drive on the right hand side before, it will be strange.
The sun is looking very quiet at the moment in terms of sunspots, and time is running out for that to change. I'm not building my hopes up for any CME impacts, but relying more on the solar wind or some minor flares.
Iceland can be quite cloudy which is also a worry, early signs look like high pressure could be around for our first night at least, which could give us some clear skies, but anything could happen yet.
We have plenty of other things planned, waterfalls, geysers, blue lagoon, volcanoes etc, so even if we don't see the northern lights, hopefully I will get some good photos and we will have a great time.
Would be great to get some more people liking my photography page in my signature and my twitter, I will be keeping them updated too with photos, especially facebook.
Anyway I will update again nearer to our departure.
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I'm pleased you and your wife still had a great time Tom.
Thanks for keeping us updated, it's been interesting.
I'm off to Iceland next Wednesday for my attempt at seeing them although if we don't, there is plenty else to see in Iceland so I'm not too concerned about the northern lights at the moment.
If it's ok with people, I might start a seperate thread next week to keep anyone updated who is interested.
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Leaving for Stanley soon, I don't have much hope of making it back before the snow.
I have a back up plan of going to my grans in Jarrow if the road to Stanley gets tricky.
Should be due back about 17:30 in normal conditions, we'll see what time I actually make it back!
Hope it falls as snow for everyone though, should be ok for high ground but it would be a cruel way to end this cold spell if it's rain or sleet.
Can't wait to be back in the frozen north!
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Surely this main band can't pass to our north when it's due to hit everywhere down to the midlands?
I can't see radar at the moment so I'm a bit blind, but the Met Office only updated their warning recently and it still sounded positive.
I hope they are right!
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Surprised how quiet it is here, are you all bored of the snow? I suspect those up in higher parts might be!
Interesting forecast for this afternoons drive from Nottingham to Stanley, hoping to get up there by about 5:30pm so hopefully I will make it before the roads get too bad.
I think by the end of tonight I will be seeing the deepest snow of my life, can't wait to get up there.
What time are we expecting it to start? I'm at work so can't look at too many charts, but MetO now seem to say around 12 which would be dodgy for me, I wasn't expecting it until 3-4pm?
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Hi MCT,i would say the snow depth is about equal with 2010 while being slightly less cold.Yesterday was truly an epic
day of snowfall and strong winds on high ground,a really memorable event,although would have been nice to
see areas with lower altitude getting the snow as was the case in 2010.
Not sure where PP is these days,haven't seen him post for ages.
ps.hope you are still taking weather pics,you posted some great ones of thunderstorms etc.
Thanks for that, at least it's not clearly the best snow event, but I would still love to have been up there to enjoy it!
Coming up on Friday afternoon so I'm hoping there will be plenty left and I'm also hoping to drive up to Waskerley so should see a lot up there at least.
Thanks for the compliment about the photos, I'm not doing much photography at the moment, but can't wait for summer again. There isn't much to take photos of around here, it's a pretty boring place and I miss the north east! Going to Iceland next month though so should get some good pics there, hopefully of the northern lights.
PP was a character, maybe he will pop up again some day.
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Posting this again as the other thread was closed after this...
My girlfriend has a lot to answer for, if I had never met her, I would have most likely still been living in Stanley and working in Consett!
Would people in those areas say there is more snow than 2010? I fear I have missed out on what would have been the biggest snow even in my lifetime
Also just had a thought, what happened to Persian Paladin from Durham? Haven't seen him on here for what feels like years.
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My girlfriend has a lot to answer for, if I had never met her, I would have most likely still been living in Stanley and working in Consett!
Would people in those areas say there is more snow than 2010? I fear I have missed out on what would have been the biggest snow even in my lifetime
Also just had a thought, what happened to Persian Paladin from Durham? Haven't seen him on here for what feels like years.
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Some incredible pictures from Consett.
Found some great ones on twitter, including this... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BBJ1LC6CUAAHQxg.jpg
Just been on the phone to my mam in Stanley, makes me sooooooo jealous. 1 and a half years ago I was working in Consett, how I miss it!
Looking forward to coming up at the weekend though and hopefully driving up to Waskerley.
Have fun, stay safe and keep the pics coming!
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Only 3 out of 7 from my team made it in today.
I would understand if it was Consett, but this is Nottingham, with about 5cm of snow.
They are apparently "snowed in" lol, I miss being up there with tough northerners!
Looking forward to coming home at the weekend, think I will have a drive to Waskerley.
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Blizzard like conditions in DUrham walking the bairn to school... 5" lying in best spots, foot-high drifts, finally more is settling.. and school is still on: makes me proud to be in the NE.
Yes it's something to be proud of.
You should hear the way everyone is going on here in Nottingham at work. You would think there was a foot, not 5cm!
Schools closed all over the area too.
Soft southerners!
too much cloud about and it seems to be covering finland! Abisko is lit up though looking at the camera 
Mark, not sure where you're based but someone posted this up at spaceweather from last night in iceland
Iceland is a place I will visit one day,take plenty of money its not a cheap place to visit? As for the driving,take your time don't rush and it will be second nature before you know it
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I'm having a problem with this new radar on my work computer. It's running IE7.
When I open it, it starts with 24hrs accumulation on and runs animation without me doing anything. The buttons are all very stretched out across the whole screen and button to turn off the accumulation seems to be hidden behind something else on the drop down list, so at the moment I cannot see the current radar at work.
Personally I would rather it stayed as it was, I think a seperate mobile app would have been better than making everyone use what is effectively just a large mobile version, but that's just my opinion.