Where in Latvia is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Ventspils at 55.6°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Latvia has the longest December night?

Valmiera, with 15.6 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Latvia has the clearest dark season?

Valmiera, with 75% 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 Latvia?

September for 2 of 2 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

2 towns · northern lights

Aurora towns in Latvia

Answer

Glow tracks 2 towns in Latvia, 2 with their own indexed page. On the IGRF-14 dipole they run from Ventspils at 55.6° to Valmiera at 55.2°, with a median of 55.4 degrees geomagnetic.

55.4°

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

Of the 2 indexed towns in Latvia, 2 sit between 55 and 60 degrees, where G1 (Kp 5) or less usually brings aurora into view.

Darkness and cloud

On December 15 the median town gets 15.6 hours of civil night. Valmiera has the most at 15.6 hours and Ventspils the least at 15.5. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 76%. Valmiera is clearest at 75% and Ventspils cloudiest at 77%. These are all-hours averages for 1 degree cells, not forecasts.

Best month, town by town

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, September comes out best for 2 of the 2 towns. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

2 towns in Latvia, highest geomagnetic latitude first
Town	Region	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Ventspils	Ventspils	55.6°	G1 or less	15.5 h	77%	Sep
Valmiera	Valmiera	55.2°	G1 or less	15.6 h	75%	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.

Regions

The towns fall in 2 first-level regions. Valmiera has 1, Ventspils has 1. Regions with at least 5 indexed towns have their own page with three rankings.

Valmiera1 towns
Ventspils1 towns

Questions

Where in Latvia is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Ventspils at 55.6°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Latvia has the longest December night?: Valmiera, with 15.6 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Latvia has the clearest dark season?: Valmiera, with 75% 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 Latvia?: September for 2 of 2 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/
NOAA SWPC, Aurorahttps://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/aurora

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.