Where in North Dakota is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Grand Forks at 56.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in North Dakota has the longest December night?

Grand Forks, with 14.3 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in North Dakota has the clearest dark season?

Bismarck, 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 North Dakota?

January for 4 of 6 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

United States · 7 towns

Aurora towns in North Dakota

Answer

Glow tracks 7 towns in North Dakota, United States. They sit between 54.7° at Bismarck and 56.1° at Grand Forks on the IGRF-14 dipole. The regional median, 55.5 degrees, is 3.9 degrees above the median for United States.

55.5°

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 Williston and Fargo, 0.7 degrees. 4 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 6 indexed towns in North Dakota, 5 sit between 55 and 60 degrees, where G1 (Kp 5) or less usually brings aurora into view; 1 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	Grand Forks	56.1°
2	Minot	56.1°
3	Williston	55.8°
4	Fargo	55.1°
5	Jamestown	55.0°
6	Bismarck	54.7°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 14.3 hours of civil night, against 13.8 nationally. Grand Forks has the most at 14.3 hours and Fargo the least at 14.2. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Grand Forks	14.3 h
2	Minot	14.3 h
3	Williston	14.3 h
4	Fargo	14.2 h
5	Jamestown	14.2 h
6	Bismarck	14.2 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 59%, against 61% nationally. Bismarck is clearest at 58% and Minot cloudiest at 60%. 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	Bismarck	58%
2	Jamestown	58%
3	Fargo	59%
4	Williston	59%
5	Grand Forks	60%
6	Minot	60%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, January comes out best for 4 of the 6 towns and September for 2. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

7 towns in North Dakota
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Grand Forks	56.1°	G1 or less	14.3 h	60%	Jan
Minot	56.1°	G1 or less	14.3 h	60%	Jan
Williston	55.8°	G1 or less	14.3 h	59%	Jan
Fargo	55.1°	G1 or less	14.2 h	59%	Jan
West Fargo *	55.1°	G1 or less	14.2 h	59%	Jan
Jamestown	55.0°	G1 or less	14.2 h	58%	Sep
Bismarck	54.7°	G2 or more	14.2 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 North Dakota is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Grand Forks at 56.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in North Dakota has the longest December night?: Grand Forks, with 14.3 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in North Dakota has the clearest dark season?: Bismarck, 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 North Dakota?: January for 4 of 6 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.