Where in Northern Ireland is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Coleraine at 57.9°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Northern Ireland has the longest December night?

Coleraine, with 15.2 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Northern Ireland has the clearest dark season?

Larne, with 77% 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 Northern Ireland?

December for 11 of 12 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

United Kingdom · 17 towns

Aurora towns in Northern Ireland

Answer

Glow tracks 17 towns in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. They sit between 56.9° at Newry and 57.9° at Coleraine on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 57.3 degrees, is 1.1 degrees above the median for United Kingdom.

57.3°

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 Derry and Ballymena, 0.3 degrees. 11 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 12 indexed towns in Northern Ireland, 12 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	Coleraine	57.9°
2	Derry	57.9°
3	Ballymena	57.6°
4	Larne	57.5°
5	Omagh	57.5°
6	Antrim	57.4°
7	Bangor, Northern Ireland	57.3°
8	Belfast	57.3°
9	Newtownards	57.2°
10	Lisburn	57.2°
11	Craigavon	57.2°
12	Newry	56.9°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 15.1 hours of civil night, against 15.0 nationally. Coleraine has the most at 15.2 hours and Newry the least at 15.0. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Coleraine	15.2 h
2	Derry	15.2 h
3	Ballymena	15.1 h
4	Larne	15.1 h
5	Omagh	15.1 h
6	Antrim	15.1 h
7	Bangor, Northern Ireland	15.1 h
8	Belfast	15.1 h
9	Newtownards	15.1 h
10	Lisburn	15.1 h
11	Craigavon	15.1 h
12	Newry	15.0 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. Larne is clearest at 77% and Coleraine cloudiest at 83%. 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	Larne	77%
2	Bangor, Northern Ireland	77%
3	Belfast	77%
4	Newtownards	77%
5	Derry	79%
6	Ballymena	79%
7	Omagh	79%
8	Antrim	79%
9	Lisburn	79%
10	Craigavon	79%
11	Newry	79%
12	Coleraine	83%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, December comes out best for 11 of the 12 towns and February for 1. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

17 towns in Northern Ireland
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Coleraine	57.9°	G1 or less	15.2 h	83%	Feb
Derry	57.9°	G1 or less	15.2 h	79%	Dec
Ballymena	57.6°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Larne	57.5°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Omagh	57.5°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Antrim	57.4°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Carrickfergus *	57.3°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Newtownabbey *	57.3°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Bangor, Northern Ireland	57.3°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Belfast	57.3°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Castlereagh *	57.2°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Newtownards	57.2°	G1 or less	15.1 h	77%	Dec
Lisburn	57.2°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Craigavon	57.2°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Portadown *	57.2°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Banbridge *	57.1°	G1 or less	15.1 h	79%	Dec
Newry	56.9°	G1 or less	15.0 h	79%	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 Northern Ireland is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Coleraine at 57.9°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Northern Ireland has the longest December night?: Coleraine, with 15.2 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Northern Ireland has the clearest dark season?: Larne, with 77% 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 Northern Ireland?: December for 11 of 12 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.