Reykjanes Peninsula Aurora Borealis
Night Three - Iceland - 2025
Taking a gamble on clear skies, aurora borealis were spotted just north of the Blue Lagoon.
1. Aurora Borealis #1
The cycle of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) lasts for 11 years and last peaked around October 2024.
Clear weather in the Icelandic winter is always far from a sure thing, and you need to seize any and all opportunities to see the aurora borealis you can get! So when I looked at the near-term cloud forecast for southwest Iceland and I saw that there was a reasonable chance their’d be a break in the clouds, I had to pounce. Yes, I was tired and, yes, I had just driven across the country and, yes, we’d be staying in the dark center of the country for several days and, yes, I had to get up early in the morning to do a pick-up at the airport … but I just had to! Thankfully, everyone was willing to go along with me, despite needing to abandon the warmth of our hotel room!
I did the best I could to find a remote parking area we could head to and came across a small parking lot maybe fifteen minutes away from our hotel, not terribly far from the Blue Lagoon.
Hopping into the van, we found our way to the parking lot in good order and set up shop. It was pretty darn cold at this point and the wind was whipping off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, but we held out just long enough to see the peak of the show.
This wasn’t the strongest Northern Lights storm by any stretch and it was frequently interrupted by clouds and haze, but when the columns of green light did manage to punch through, it was certainly visible to the naked eye.
Eighteen aurora photographs follow.
2. Aurora Borealis #2
3. Aurora Borealis #3
4. Aurora Borealis #4
5. Aurora Borealis #5
6. Aurora Borealis #6
7. Aurora Borealis #7
8. Aurora Borealis #8
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9. Aurora Borealis #9
10. Aurora Borealis #10
11. Aurora Borealis #11
12. Aurora Borealis #12
13. Aurora Borealis #13
14. Aurora Borealis #14
15. Aurora Borealis #15
16. Aurora Borealis #16
17. Aurora Borealis #17
18. Aurora Borealis #18
19. Aurora Borealis #19
Content with our session, we headed back to the warm hotel. I was relieved, particularly after the mostly disastrous journey to the ice caves, that I was at least able to deliver on some aurora. It was also lovely to see them again after so many years!
