Where in Pirkanmaa is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Ylöjärvi at 59.3°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Pirkanmaa has the longest December night?

Ylöjärvi, with 16.3 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Pirkanmaa has the clearest dark season?

Ylöjärvi, with 76% 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 Pirkanmaa?

March for 7 of 7 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Finland · 9 towns

Aurora towns in Pirkanmaa

Answer

Glow tracks 9 towns in Pirkanmaa, Finland. They sit between 58.9° at Valkeakoski and 59.3° at Ylöjärvi on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 59.2 degrees, is 0.2 degrees above the median for Finland.

59.2°

median geomagnetic latitude

IGRF-14 dipole, SunCalc, NASA POWER

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 Kangasala and Lempäälä, 0.1 degrees. 6 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 7 indexed towns in Pirkanmaa, 7 sit between 55 and 60 degrees, where G1 (Kp 5) or less usually brings aurora into view.

Ranked by geomagnetic latitude

Dipole latitude, highest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Ylöjärvi	59.3°
2	Nokia	59.2°
3	Tampere	59.2°
4	Sastamala	59.2°
5	Kangasala	59.1°
6	Lempäälä	59.0°
7	Valkeakoski	58.9°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 16.3 hours of civil night, against 16.3 nationally. Ylöjärvi has the most at 16.3 hours and Ylöjärvi the least at 16.3. 7 of these towns lose civil darkness altogether around the June solstice; Ylöjärvi goes longest, 42 nights.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Ylöjärvi	16.3 h
2	Nokia	16.3 h
3	Tampere	16.3 h
4	Sastamala	16.3 h
5	Kangasala	16.3 h
6	Lempäälä	16.3 h
7	Valkeakoski	16.3 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 76%, against 76% nationally. Ylöjärvi is clearest at 76% and Valkeakoski 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	Ylöjärvi	76%
2	Nokia	76%
3	Tampere	76%
4	Sastamala	76%
5	Lempäälä	76%
6	Kangasala	77%
7	Valkeakoski	77%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, March comes out best for 7 of the 7 towns. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

9 towns in Pirkanmaa
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Ylöjärvi	59.3°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Nokia	59.2°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Tampere	59.2°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Sastamala	59.2°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Pirkkala *	59.2°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Vammala *	59.2°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Kangasala	59.1°	G1 or less	16.3 h	77%	Mar
Lempäälä	59.0°	G1 or less	16.3 h	76%	Mar
Valkeakoski	58.9°	G1 or less	16.3 h	77%	Mar

* 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 Pirkanmaa is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Ylöjärvi at 59.3°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Pirkanmaa has the longest December night?: Ylöjärvi, with 16.3 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Pirkanmaa has the clearest dark season?: Ylöjärvi, with 76% 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 Pirkanmaa?: March for 7 of 7 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

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.