I missed the show here in Stockholm. And most other people in Sweden, due to the excessive amounts of clouds almost everywhere. Some people however did manage to get beautiful shots of the aurora in the night of 11-12 November, as a double impact from earlier X-flares on the sun, entered the magnetosphere of earth.
Apparently it was spectacular in most places - in some even as low as in Florida - with dominating red auroras. It strikes me, that the majority of photos at Spaceweather.com, showing mostly red auroras !
Then a third impact happened last night
- but once again - it was all overcast due to the dense clouds covering large parts of Scandinavia, including Stockholm. So, we saw absolutely nothing. As i am writing now, a coldfront hovers across Stockholm, separating very mild air in the south, from the much colder air in the north. Stockholm still has 10-12°C, while Uppsala reports only 4-5°C - just 75-80 km north of us. That cold air is coming to us in a couple of hours, initiating a period of colder weather, with slightly freezing temperatures.
More Auroras tonight ?
There is a slight possibility for severe Aurora activity tonight - and that could in theory be something even we here in Stockholm could see. As the coldfront moves away, the temperature fall - and the skies are predicted to be clear tonight. That would give us a chance to see aurora. Albeit i am in the worst possible environment; the Högdalen train depot with it's giant, strong lights placed everywhere.
So. There is that.
11-12 November 2025 vs 2003
Here you can see how the Auroral Oval had a massive input of energy; 208 Gigawatt - creating a very strong Auroral ring over the Northern (and Southern) hemisphere. I can't remember having seen such a major strong input of energy... I mean above 200 GW, that is massive !
[Albeit i just found a screen shot from 20 Nov 2003, showing that an outbreak resulted into an even more massive inflow of energy; 412 GW !!! This outbreak was so huge, covering large parts of the northern hemisphere, that the main activity of the Auroras seen AT THE SOUTH HORIZON here in Stockholm !! Later the entire sky was glowing green (which wasn't that much visible to the naked eye - but the camera captured it no matter in which direction you aimed the camera; it was all like a green nebula / haze]
20 Nov 2003
Back to 11-12 Nov 2025
Reports with images of Auroral activity taking in very southern locations like like Florida, Arizona and even El Salvador. Now remember, that it might not always been visible to the naked eye - while mobile phones with night time exposure enabled, or digital cameras with longtime exposure - can easily capture weak auroral colors.
It is a trick you can always use when you are unsure if there are any auroras: just aim the camera with a longer shutter speed against the sky - and then check if there is anything red or green.
12 Nov 2025
12 Nov 2025
Back in 2001 - using the digital camera trick
Back in the days at the super bright Nynäsvägen Highway in Stockholm, I used that trick back in 2001. My eyes could see through the vast glare of the street lights - but the camera could easily identify if there were any red or green auroras going on. When yes, I would just pack my stuff plus tripod - and go out to the nearest park in Enskede where i lived.
It didn't matter that the test photo was blurry. it was just about to identify if any aurora was present in the sky. In order to distinguish between normal clouds (which mostly did show any colors) and auroral activity which usually came though with pronounced greenish colors. Despite strong street lights - the camera would still capture any unsual colors in the sky (if present).
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