Where in Arkhangelskaya is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Severodvinsk at 59.9°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Arkhangelskaya has the longest December night?

Severodvinsk, with 17.1 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Arkhangelskaya has the clearest dark season?

Kotlas, with 78% 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 Arkhangelskaya?

January for 5 of 9 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Russia · 11 towns

Aurora towns in Arkhangelskaya

Answer

Glow tracks 11 towns in Arkhangelskaya, Russia. They sit between 55.9° at Koryazhma and 59.9° at Severodvinsk on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 58.1 degrees, is 0.8 degrees above the median for Russia.

58.1°

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 Onega and Mirnyy, 1.4 degrees. 5 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 9 indexed towns in Arkhangelskaya, 9 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	Severodvinsk	59.9°
2	Arkhangel'sk	59.8°
3	Novodvinsk	59.6°
4	Onega	59.5°
5	Mirnyy	58.1°
6	Nyandoma	57.1°
7	Vel'sk	56.2°
8	Kotlas	55.9°
9	Koryazhma	55.9°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 16.6 hours of civil night, against 16.7 nationally. Severodvinsk has the most at 17.1 hours and Vel'sk the least at 16.2. 9 of these towns lose civil darkness altogether around the June solstice; Severodvinsk goes longest, 74 nights.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Severodvinsk	17.1 h
2	Arkhangel'sk	17.1 h
3	Novodvinsk	17.1 h
4	Onega	16.9 h
5	Mirnyy	16.6 h
6	Nyandoma	16.4 h
7	Kotlas	16.3 h
8	Koryazhma	16.3 h
9	Vel'sk	16.2 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 79%, against 77% nationally. Kotlas is clearest at 78% and Severodvinsk cloudiest at 80%. 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	Kotlas	78%
2	Koryazhma	78%
3	Vel'sk	78%
4	Mirnyy	78%
5	Onega	79%
6	Nyandoma	79%
7	Arkhangel'sk	79%
8	Novodvinsk	79%
9	Severodvinsk	80%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, January comes out best for 5 of the 9 towns and February for 4. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

11 towns in Arkhangelskaya
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Yagry *	59.9°	G1 or less	17.1 h	80%	Jan
Severodvinsk	59.9°	G1 or less	17.1 h	80%	Jan
Arkhangel'sk	59.8°	G1 or less	17.1 h	79%	Jan
Isakogorka *	59.7°	G1 or less	17.1 h	79%	Jan
Novodvinsk	59.6°	G1 or less	17.1 h	79%	Jan
Onega	59.5°	G1 or less	16.9 h	79%	Jan
Mirnyy	58.1°	G1 or less	16.6 h	78%	Jan
Nyandoma	57.1°	G1 or less	16.4 h	79%	Feb
Vel'sk	56.2°	G1 or less	16.2 h	78%	Feb
Kotlas	55.9°	G1 or less	16.3 h	78%	Feb
Koryazhma	55.9°	G1 or less	16.3 h	78%	Feb

* 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 Arkhangelskaya is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Severodvinsk at 59.9°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Arkhangelskaya has the longest December night?: Severodvinsk, with 17.1 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Arkhangelskaya has the clearest dark season?: Kotlas, with 78% 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 Arkhangelskaya?: January for 5 of 9 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.