Where in Ontario is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Kenora at 58.2°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Ontario has the longest December night?

Kenora, with 14.5 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Ontario has the clearest dark season?

Belleville, with 64% mean cloud amount in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night (NASA POWER, 2001 to 2020).

What is the best month for aurora in Ontario?

September for 32 of 37 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Ontario aurora towns ranked: 52 places

Where the towns sit

60° geomagnetic or more, no storm needed55° to 60°, G1 or lessbelow 55°, storm needed

The widest gap in the dipole ranking falls between Thunder Bay and Valley East, 1.4 degrees. 33 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 37 indexed towns in Ontario, 8 sit between 55 and 60 degrees, where G1 (Kp 5) or less usually brings aurora into view; 29 sit below 55 degrees and need a G2 or stronger storm by NOAA's typical latitudes.

Ranked by geomagnetic latitude

Dipole latitude, highest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Kenora	58.2°
2	Timmins	57.6°
3	Thunder Bay	57.1°
4	Valley East	55.7°
5	Greater Sudbury	55.6°
6	Sault Ste. Marie	55.5°
7	North Bay	55.5°
8	Petawawa	55.1°
9	Orléans	54.7°
10	Ottawa	54.6°
11	Kanata	54.5°
12	Barrie	53.5°
13	Peterborough	53.5°
14	Kingston	53.4°
15	Belleville	53.3°
16	Newmarket	53.2°
17	Oshawa	53.0°
18	Markham	53.0°
19	Ajax	53.0°
20	Caledon	53.0°
21	Vaughan	53.0°
22	Toronto	52.8°
23	Brampton	52.8°
24	Etobicoke	52.8°
25	Mississauga	52.7°
26	Guelph	52.7°
27	Kitchener	52.5°
28	Burlington	52.5°
29	Cambridge, Ontario	52.5°
30	Hamilton, Ontario	52.4°
31	St. Catharines	52.3°
32	Brantford	52.3°
33	Niagara Falls	52.2°
34	Welland	52.1°
35	London	52.1°
36	Sarnia	52.0°
37	Norfolk County	51.9°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 13.9 hours of civil night, against 14.2 nationally. Kenora has the most at 14.5 hours and Burlington the least at 13.8. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Kenora	14.5 h
2	Timmins	14.3 h
3	Thunder Bay	14.3 h
4	Valley East	14.2 h
5	Greater Sudbury	14.1 h
6	Sault Ste. Marie	14.1 h
7	North Bay	14.1 h
8	Petawawa	14.1 h
9	Orléans	14.0 h
10	Ottawa	14.0 h
11	Kanata	14.0 h
12	Barrie	13.9 h
13	Peterborough	13.9 h
14	Kingston	13.9 h
15	Belleville	13.9 h
16	Newmarket	13.9 h
17	Oshawa	13.9 h
18	Markham	13.9 h
19	Ajax	13.9 h
20	Caledon	13.9 h
21	Vaughan	13.9 h
22	Toronto	13.9 h
23	Brampton	13.9 h
24	Etobicoke	13.9 h
25	Mississauga	13.9 h
26	Guelph	13.9 h
27	Kitchener	13.9 h
28	Burlington	13.8 h
29	Cambridge, Ontario	13.8 h
30	Hamilton, Ontario	13.8 h
31	St. Catharines	13.8 h
32	Brantford	13.8 h
33	Niagara Falls	13.8 h
34	Welland	13.8 h
35	London	13.8 h
36	Sarnia	13.8 h
37	Norfolk County	13.8 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 69%, against 67% nationally. Belleville is clearest at 64% and Oshawa cloudiest at 77%. These are all-hours averages for 1 degree cells, not forecasts.

Mean cloud amount in months with 4 hours or more of civil night, clearest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Belleville	64%
2	Sarnia	64%
3	Petawawa	64%
4	Orléans	64%
5	Ottawa	64%
6	Kanata	64%
7	Kingston	64%
8	Valley East	65%
9	Greater Sudbury	65%
10	Guelph	65%
11	Kitchener	65%
12	Cambridge, Ontario	65%
13	Brantford	65%
14	Peterborough	65%
15	Kenora	66%
16	North Bay	66%
17	Timmins	68%
18	Barrie	69%
19	Newmarket	69%
20	Thunder Bay	70%
21	London	71%
22	Markham	72%
23	Ajax	72%
24	Caledon	72%
25	Vaughan	72%
26	Toronto	72%
27	Brampton	72%
28	Etobicoke	72%
29	Mississauga	72%
30	Burlington	72%
31	Hamilton, Ontario	72%
32	St. Catharines	72%
33	Niagara Falls	72%
34	Norfolk County	72%
35	Sault Ste. Marie	75%
36	Welland	77%
37	Oshawa	77%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, September comes out best for 32 of the 37 towns and March for 3. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

52 towns in Ontario
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Kenora	58.2°	G1 or less	14.5 h	66%	Jan
Timmins	57.6°	G1 or less	14.3 h	68%	Mar
Thunder Bay	57.1°	G1 or less	14.3 h	70%	Jan
Valley East	55.7°	G1 or less	14.2 h	65%	Mar
Greater Sudbury	55.6°	G1 or less	14.1 h	65%	Mar
Sault Ste. Marie	55.5°	G1 or less	14.1 h	75%	Sep
North Bay	55.5°	G1 or less	14.1 h	66%	Sep
Petawawa	55.1°	G1 or less	14.1 h	64%	Sep
Orléans	54.7°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Ottawa	54.6°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Ottawa South *	54.6°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Gloucester *	54.5°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Nepean *	54.5°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Kanata	54.5°	G2 or more	14.0 h	64%	Sep
Barrie	53.5°	G2 or more	13.9 h	69%	Sep
Peterborough	53.5°	G2 or more	13.9 h	65%	Sep
Kingston	53.4°	G2 or more	13.9 h	64%	Sep
Belleville	53.3°	G2 or more	13.9 h	64%	Sep
Newmarket	53.2°	G2 or more	13.9 h	69%	Sep
Aurora, Ontario *	53.1°	G2 or more	13.9 h	69%	Sep
Oshawa	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	77%	Sep
Pickering *	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Whitby *	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	77%	Sep
Richmond Hill *	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Markham	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Ajax	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Caledon	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Vaughan	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Thornhill *	53.0°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Willowdale *	52.9°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Toronto	52.8°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Brampton	52.8°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Etobicoke	52.8°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Halton Hills *	52.8°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Mississauga	52.7°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Guelph	52.7°	G2 or more	13.9 h	65%	Sep
Milton *	52.6°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Oakville *	52.6°	G2 or more	13.9 h	72%	Sep
Waterloo, Ontario *	52.6°	G2 or more	13.9 h	65%	Sep
Kitchener	52.5°	G2 or more	13.9 h	65%	Sep
Burlington	52.5°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
Cambridge, Ontario	52.5°	G2 or more	13.8 h	65%	Sep
Hamilton, Ontario	52.4°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
Stoney Creek *	52.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
St. Catharines	52.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
Brantford	52.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	65%	Sep
Niagara Falls	52.2°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
Welland	52.1°	G2 or more	13.8 h	77%	Sep
London	52.1°	G2 or more	13.8 h	71%	Sep
Sarnia	52.0°	G2 or more	13.8 h	64%	Sep
Norfolk County	51.9°	G2 or more	13.8 h	72%	Sep
Windsor *	51.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	63%	Sep

* Within 15 km of a larger town with the same rounded figures; its page points to that town. Cloud: NASA POWER mean for months with at least 4 hours of civil night.

Questions

Where in Ontario is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Kenora at 58.2°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Ontario has the longest December night?: Kenora, with 14.5 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Ontario has the clearest dark season?: Belleville, with 64% mean cloud amount in the months with at least 4 hours of civil night (NASA POWER, 2001 to 2020).
What is the best month for aurora in Ontario?: September for 32 of 37 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Top towns in Ontario

Other regions of Canada

More

Sources and verification

GeoNames dump (CC BY 4.0)https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/
IGRF-14, NOAA NCEIhttps://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/IAGA/vmod/coeffs/igrf14coeffs.txt
NASA POWER climatologyhttps://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/climatology/

Quoted figures last checked against their sources on 2026-09-30; next review 2026-12-31. Computed figures come from SunCalc and the IGRF-14 dipole as described in the methodology. Every quote is listed in the sources ledger.