Overwhelming Northern Lights in Laxá

For the fourth day in a row I had been drafted to go out Northern Lights hunting. The past three nights had already been quite successful with Northern Lights way stronger than average and I feared that the Aurora would recede, or even completely fade away after such a bountiful week-end.

Uncertain about the evening’s fate, I boarded the bus and picked up our guests. The weather forecast had announced extremely cloudy weather for just about everywhere in Iceland and it was with some surprise that, as we headed for Mount Esja, we spotted numerous stars, clear signs that we had some decent chances of spotting the Northern Lights.

.

.

Still, there were no Northern Lights, like, none whatsoever. We decided to continue driving North/North-East as it appeared that the skies were much clearer there than in the West and we entered Hvalfjörður (The Whale Fjord), one of the most stunning area close to Reykjavík.

After driving for a little while, our driver suddenly spotted the Aurora, bulging out of the mountains and managed to stop us on a parking lot next to the mouth of the Laxá Í Kjós River. By then you could clearly see the arch-shape of the Northern-Lights and everyone jumped out of the bus taking pictures! It was a rather enthusiastic moment.

.

.

However, after a little while, the Northern-Lights started to fade, and soon they had completely disappeared. While everyone went back on the bus I stayed out a little longer in order to see if they might come back. After a couple minutes with absolutely no activity whatsoever, I was ready to go back in the bus and call it quit when they came back, and rather powerfully so:

.

.

Without any warning, the Aurora came back, stronger than ever, filling the sky with the brightest Light! This lasted for only a couple minutes but it was literally insane, a Northern Light surge like you see only a few a year:

.

.

.

.

.

.

As the Aurora started to disappear again, we boarded the bus back, heading towards Reykjavík but once more, just a couple minutes after we had left, the Northern Lights came back, and we had the pleasure of enjoying them dancing over Mosfellsbær.

.

.

.

After this ultimate show, we headed back towards Reykjavík and even arrived there a bit earlier than expected. All in all, it had been almost too easy! I am also extremely happy to have had the incredible chance of experiencing so strong Northern Lights four nights in a row. If I wanted to retire, this would be the perfect moment, but don’t worry, I am far from done with this!