At the beginning of the year

Auroras light up Austria’s sky

On New Year's Eve, the auroras provided a spectacular natural spectacle in many places - such as in Prein an der Rax in Lower Austria.

(Bild: Leserreporter)

Auroras were already visible over Austria on New Year's Eve and captured by webcams. On Wednesday evening, the rare natural spectacle continued - also over Carinthia and Styria. Experts are also predicting a promising forecast for 2025. 

On New Year's Eve from Tuesday to Wednesday and on New Year's Eve, auroras were again visible over Austria. According to the weather service GeoSphere Austria, a solar storm hit the earth and caused an intense geomagnetic storm. This makes it the fourth strongest of the current solar cycle, according to a post on the news platform X. 

Impressive images from Carinthia and Styria
The following night, colorful lights also provided a natural spectacle in the Austrian sky. The weather conditions also favored the observations. Apart from local patches of fog in the lowlands in the east and south, the sky remained slightly cloudy in many regions. The first images of the auroras were captured in the early evening of the first of January, for example north of Hartberg in Styria: 

Up to five strong solar storms expected for 2025
Experts also predict a good forecast for auroras in 2025. The reason for this is the continuing high level of solar activity, as Christian Möstl, Head of the Austrian Space Weather Office at GeoSphere Austria in Graz, explained. He expects three to five strong solar storms with the potential for auroras in Austria.

Solar activity has been measured since the 18th century based on the number of sunspots and sunspot groups, from which the so-called "sunspot relative number" is calculated. This reaches a maximum approximately every eleven years; in 2024/25, our central star is at the maximum of solar cycle no. 25.

In Prein an der Rax in Lower Austria, the auroras were also clearly visible on New Year's Eve.

(Bild: Leserreporter)

Earth was hit by around 50 solar storms last year - the highest number in the past two decades. "In our experience, around ten percent of these have the potential for auroras in more southerly latitudes, for example in Austria," says Möstl. In fact, four strong geomagnetic storms were recorded in 2024.

In our experience, around ten percent of the 50 solar storms that hit the Earth have the potential for auroras in more southerly latitudes, for example in Austria.

Christian Möstl, Leiter des Austrian Space Weather Office von GeoSphere Austria in Graz

Strongest solar storm in May 2023
On the night of May 11, 2023, the strongest solar storm since 2003 produced spectacular auroras that were even visible in the brightly lit city of Vienna. "This was probably the best Northern Lights event ever photographed, mainly thanks to smartphones, which capture colors better than the eye can see them," explains Möstl. On 11 October, the luminous phenomena caused by a solar storm were also visible in western Austria, but only to a lesser extent due to the weather.

On New Year's Eve at around 18:30, the auroras were particularly visible in Bad Kleinkirchheim in Carinthia:

Several factors have to come together for auroras to be visible in our latitudes: In addition to solar activity, clear weather, low cloud cover and a moon that is not too bright play a decisive role. The time of year and the time of day of the phenomenon are also important - it should be dark enough and people must still be awake to experience the rare spectacle.

Fewer auroras expected after 2025
Möstl expects fewer solar storms in the years after 2025. However, these would tend to cause somewhat stronger effects in the waning phase of the solar cycle as they sweep across the Earth's magnetic field. "This means there is still a chance of seeing the sky dance in Central Europe until 2027."