Where in Yamalo-Nenets is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Labytnangi at 59.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Yamalo-Nenets has the longest December night?

Labytnangi, with 17.8 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Yamalo-Nenets has the clearest dark season?

Tarko-Sale, with 70% 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 Yamalo-Nenets?

December for 8 of 8 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Russia · 8 towns

Aurora towns in Yamalo-Nenets

Answer

Glow tracks 8 towns in Yamalo-Nenets, Russia. They sit between 55.1° at Noyabrsk and 59.1° at Labytnangi on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 57.1 degrees, is 0.2 degrees below the median for Russia.

57.1°

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 Salekhard and Novyy Urengoy, 1.2 degrees. 3 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 8 indexed towns in Yamalo-Nenets, 8 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	Labytnangi	59.1°
2	Salekhard	59.0°
3	Novyy Urengoy	57.8°
4	Nadym	57.6°
5	Tarko-Sale	56.6°
6	Gubkinskiy	56.2°
7	Muravlenko	55.7°
8	Noyabrsk	55.1°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 17.3 hours of civil night, against 16.7 nationally. Labytnangi has the most at 17.8 hours and Noyabrsk the least at 16.7. 8 of these towns lose civil darkness altogether around the June solstice; Labytnangi goes longest, 90 nights.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Labytnangi	17.8 h
2	Salekhard	17.8 h
3	Novyy Urengoy	17.6 h
4	Nadym	17.4 h
5	Tarko-Sale	17.2 h
6	Gubkinskiy	17.1 h
7	Muravlenko	16.9 h
8	Noyabrsk	16.7 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 71%, against 77% nationally. Tarko-Sale is clearest at 70% and Noyabrsk cloudiest at 71%. 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	Tarko-Sale	70%
2	Gubkinskiy	70%
3	Labytnangi	71%
4	Salekhard	71%
5	Nadym	71%
6	Novyy Urengoy	71%
7	Muravlenko	71%
8	Noyabrsk	71%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, December comes out best for 8 of the 8 towns. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

8 towns in Yamalo-Nenets
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Labytnangi	59.1°	G1 or less	17.8 h	71%	Dec
Salekhard	59.0°	G1 or less	17.8 h	71%	Dec
Novyy Urengoy	57.8°	G1 or less	17.6 h	71%	Dec
Nadym	57.6°	G1 or less	17.4 h	71%	Dec
Tarko-Sale	56.6°	G1 or less	17.2 h	70%	Dec
Gubkinskiy	56.2°	G1 or less	17.1 h	70%	Dec
Muravlenko	55.7°	G1 or less	16.9 h	71%	Dec
Noyabrsk	55.1°	G1 or less	16.7 h	71%	Dec

* 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 Yamalo-Nenets is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Labytnangi at 59.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Yamalo-Nenets has the longest December night?: Labytnangi, with 17.8 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Yamalo-Nenets has the clearest dark season?: Tarko-Sale, with 70% 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 Yamalo-Nenets?: December for 8 of 8 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.