Where in Leningradskaya Oblast' is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Priozërsk at 57.8°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Leningradskaya Oblast' has the longest December night?

Priozërsk, with 16.2 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Leningradskaya Oblast' has the clearest dark season?

Luga, with 74% 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 Leningradskaya Oblast'?

March for 18 of 19 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Leningradskaya Oblast' aurora towns ranked: 23 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 Vyborg and Podporozh'ye, 0.6 degrees. 17 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 19 indexed towns in Leningradskaya Oblast', 19 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	Priozërsk	57.8°
2	Vyborg	57.7°
3	Podporozh'ye	57.1°
4	Lodeynoye Pole	57.0°
5	Sertolovo	57.0°
6	Sosnovyy Bor	56.9°
7	Vsevolozhsk	56.8°
8	Kirovsk, Leningradskaya Oblast'	56.6°
9	Kingisepp	56.4°
10	Volkhov	56.4°
11	Kommunar	56.4°
12	Gatchina	56.4°
13	Tosno	56.3°
14	Slantsy	56.3°
15	Kirishi	56.0°
16	Tikhvin	56.0°
17	Boksitogorsk	55.8°
18	Pikalëvo	55.8°
19	Luga	55.7°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 15.9 hours of civil night, against 16.7 nationally. Priozërsk has the most at 16.2 hours and Slantsy the least at 15.8. 5 of these towns lose civil darkness altogether around the June solstice; Priozërsk goes longest, 34 nights.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Priozërsk	16.2 h
2	Vyborg	16.2 h
3	Podporozh'ye	16.2 h
4	Lodeynoye Pole	16.2 h
5	Sertolovo	16.0 h
6	Sosnovyy Bor	16.0 h
7	Vsevolozhsk	16.0 h
8	Kirovsk, Leningradskaya Oblast'	16.0 h
9	Volkhov	16.0 h
10	Kingisepp	15.9 h
11	Kommunar	15.9 h
12	Gatchina	15.9 h
13	Tosno	15.9 h
14	Kirishi	15.9 h
15	Tikhvin	15.9 h
16	Boksitogorsk	15.9 h
17	Pikalëvo	15.9 h
18	Slantsy	15.8 h
19	Luga	15.8 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 75%, against 77% nationally. Luga is clearest at 74% and Vsevolozhsk cloudiest at 78%. 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	Luga	74%
2	Vyborg	75%
3	Pikalëvo	75%
4	Kirovsk, Leningradskaya Oblast'	75%
5	Volkhov	75%
6	Kommunar	75%
7	Gatchina	75%
8	Tosno	75%
9	Kirishi	75%
10	Tikhvin	75%
11	Boksitogorsk	75%
12	Sosnovyy Bor	77%
13	Kingisepp	77%
14	Slantsy	77%
15	Podporozh'ye	77%
16	Lodeynoye Pole	77%
17	Priozërsk	78%
18	Sertolovo	78%
19	Vsevolozhsk	78%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, March comes out best for 18 of the 19 towns and January for 1. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

23 towns in Leningradskaya Oblast'
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Svetogorsk *	58.1°	G1 or less	16.2 h	78%	Jan
Priozërsk	57.8°	G1 or less	16.2 h	78%	Mar
Vyborg	57.7°	G1 or less	16.2 h	75%	Mar
Podporozh'ye	57.1°	G1 or less	16.2 h	77%	Jan
Lodeynoye Pole	57.0°	G1 or less	16.2 h	77%	Mar
Sertolovo	57.0°	G1 or less	16.0 h	78%	Mar
Sosnovyy Bor	56.9°	G1 or less	16.0 h	77%	Mar
Vsevolozhsk	56.8°	G1 or less	16.0 h	78%	Mar
Kudrovo *	56.7°	G1 or less	16.0 h	75%	Mar
Kirovsk, Leningradskaya Oblast'	56.6°	G1 or less	16.0 h	75%	Mar
Otradnoye *	56.5°	G1 or less	16.0 h	75%	Mar
Kingisepp	56.4°	G1 or less	15.9 h	77%	Mar
Nikol'skoye *	56.4°	G1 or less	16.0 h	75%	Mar
Volkhov	56.4°	G1 or less	16.0 h	75%	Mar
Kommunar	56.4°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Gatchina	56.4°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Tosno	56.3°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Slantsy	56.3°	G1 or less	15.8 h	77%	Mar
Kirishi	56.0°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Tikhvin	56.0°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Boksitogorsk	55.8°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Pikalëvo	55.8°	G1 or less	15.9 h	75%	Mar
Luga	55.7°	G1 or less	15.8 h	74%	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 Leningradskaya Oblast' is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Priozërsk at 57.8°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Leningradskaya Oblast' has the longest December night?: Priozërsk, with 16.2 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Leningradskaya Oblast' has the clearest dark season?: Luga, with 74% 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 Leningradskaya Oblast'?: March for 18 of 19 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Top towns in Leningradskaya Oblast'

Other regions of Russia

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.