Where in New York is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Clay at 52.4°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in New York has the longest December night?

Clay, with 13.8 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in New York has the clearest dark season?

The Bronx, with 58% 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 New York?

September for 8 of 9 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

United States · 17 towns

Aurora towns in New York

Answer

Glow tracks 17 towns in New York, United States. They sit between 50.1° at The Bronx and 52.4° at Clay on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 52.0 degrees, is 0.5 degrees above the median for United States.

52.0°

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 Albany, New York and Greenburgh, 1.6 degrees. 7 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 New York, 9 sit below 55 degrees and need a G2 or stronger storm by NOAA's typical latitudes.

Ranked by geomagnetic latitude

Dipole latitude, highest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Clay	52.4°
2	Rochester, New York	52.3°
3	Utica	52.3°
4	Syracuse	52.2°
5	Buffalo	52.0°
6	Schenectady	52.0°
7	Albany, New York	51.9°
8	Greenburgh	50.2°
9	The Bronx	50.1°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 13.8 hours of civil night, against 13.8 nationally. Clay has the most at 13.8 hours and Greenburgh the least at 13.6. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Clay	13.8 h
2	Rochester, New York	13.8 h
3	Utica	13.8 h
4	Syracuse	13.8 h
5	Buffalo	13.8 h
6	Schenectady	13.8 h
7	Albany, New York	13.8 h
8	Greenburgh	13.6 h
9	The Bronx	13.6 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 69%, against 61% nationally. The Bronx is clearest at 58% and Syracuse 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	The Bronx	58%
2	Greenburgh	60%
3	Schenectady	64%
4	Albany, New York	64%
5	Utica	69%
6	Buffalo	70%
7	Rochester, New York	80%
8	Clay	80%
9	Syracuse	80%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, September comes out best for 8 of the 9 towns and November for 1. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

17 towns in New York
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Irondequoit *	52.4°	G2 or more	13.8 h	80%	Sep
Clay	52.4°	G2 or more	13.8 h	80%	Sep
Rochester, New York	52.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	80%	Sep
Utica	52.3°	G2 or more	13.8 h	69%	Sep
Syracuse	52.2°	G2 or more	13.8 h	80%	Sep
Amherst *	52.1°	G2 or more	13.8 h	70%	Sep
Cheektowaga *	52.1°	G2 or more	13.8 h	70%	Sep
Buffalo	52.0°	G2 or more	13.8 h	70%	Sep
Schenectady	52.0°	G2 or more	13.8 h	64%	Sep
West Albany *	51.9°	G2 or more	13.8 h	64%	Sep
Albany, New York	51.9°	G2 or more	13.8 h	64%	Sep
White Plains *	50.2°	G2 or more	13.6 h	60%	Nov
Greenburgh	50.2°	G2 or more	13.6 h	60%	Nov
Yonkers *	50.1°	G2 or more	13.6 h	58%	Sep
Mount Vernon *	50.1°	G2 or more	13.6 h	58%	Sep
New Rochelle *	50.1°	G2 or more	13.6 h	58%	Sep
The Bronx	50.1°	G2 or more	13.6 h	58%	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.

Questions

Where in New York is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Clay at 52.4°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in New York has the longest December night?: Clay, with 13.8 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in New York has the clearest dark season?: The Bronx, with 58% 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 New York?: September for 8 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.