Hello,
I haven't been following the solar cycle very closely, so I'm not sure how much longer than normal the period of low activity may or may not have been. From what I can find, it looks like we are currently at a 50-year low in solar activity (see http://science.nasa.gov/h...0sep_blankyear.htm). I think we are supposed to be coming out of solar minimum now , so it is a little bit odd that there are no sunspots at the moment.
Several years ago, I spent some time up in Alaska working on data from a satellite called Fast Auroral SnapshoT (or FAST). We worked at the Poker Flat Research Range, which is near Fairbanks, Alaska. I was there around 1998ish (my memory's not working so well today), so the Sun was probably starting to come out of solar minimum. Most of the time, we could see what scientists would call a diffuse auroral arc that remained fairly stationary in the sky. We did get some nice auroral displays, but I have to say I don't think we had these every day - maybe only every 2-3 days. Even at high latitudes, you won't expect to see bright aurora unless
the magnetosphere is somewhat disturbed by changes in the solar wind or
by solar activity. In any case, you can blame the low auroral activity on the Sun.
Kris