Where in Washington is best for the aurora?

By geomagnetic latitude, Bellingham at 54.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.

Which town in Washington has the longest December night?

Bellingham, with 14.4 hours of civil night on December 15.

Which town in Washington has the clearest dark season?

Tri-Cities, with 56% 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 Washington?

September for 13 of 13 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Washington aurora towns ranked: 26 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 Bellingham and Spokane Valley, 0.4 degrees. 12 neighbouring pairs sit within 0.5 degrees of each other, close enough that the order between them means little.

Of the 13 indexed towns in Washington, 13 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	Bellingham	54.1°
2	Spokane Valley	53.8°
3	Spokane	53.7°
4	Everett	53.4°
5	Shoreline	53.2°
6	Redmond	53.1°
7	Seattle	53.0°
8	Kent	52.8°
9	Tacoma	52.7°
10	South Hill	52.6°
11	Olympia	52.4°
12	Yakima	52.3°
13	Tri-Cities	52.1°

Ranked by December darkness

On December 15 the median town gets 14.3 hours of civil night, against 13.8 nationally. Bellingham has the most at 14.4 hours and Tri-Cities the least at 14.1. Every town keeps some civil darkness through the June solstice.

Civil night on December 15, longest first
Rank	Town	Value
1	Bellingham	14.4 h
2	Spokane Valley	14.3 h
3	Spokane	14.3 h
4	Everett	14.3 h
5	Shoreline	14.3 h
6	Redmond	14.3 h
7	Seattle	14.3 h
8	Kent	14.2 h
9	Tacoma	14.2 h
10	South Hill	14.2 h
11	Olympia	14.2 h
12	Yakima	14.2 h
13	Tri-Cities	14.1 h

Ranked by clear dark season

NASA POWER's 2001 to 2020 climatology puts median cloud amount in the dark months at 68%, against 61% nationally. Tri-Cities is clearest at 56% and Olympia cloudiest at 68%. 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	Tri-Cities	56%
2	Yakima	58%
3	Spokane Valley	62%
4	Spokane	62%
5	Bellingham	68%
6	Everett	68%
7	Shoreline	68%
8	Redmond	68%
9	Seattle	68%
10	Kent	68%
11	Tacoma	68%
12	South Hill	68%
13	Olympia	68%

Multiplying civil night by the clear share of the sky, September comes out best for 13 of the 13 towns. SWPC notes a tendency toward larger storms near the equinoxes, which this score does not include.

Every town

26 towns in Washington
Town	Dipole	Storm needed	Dec 15 night	Dark-month cloud	Best month
Bellingham	54.1°	G2 or more	14.4 h	68%	Sep
Spokane Valley	53.8°	G2 or more	14.3 h	62%	Sep
Spokane	53.7°	G2 or more	14.3 h	62%	Sep
Marysville *	53.5°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Everett	53.4°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Shoreline	53.2°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Redmond	53.1°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Kirkland *	53.1°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Sammamish *	53.1°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Bellevue *	53.1°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Seattle	53.0°	G2 or more	14.3 h	68%	Sep
Renton *	52.9°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Burien *	52.9°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Kent	52.8°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Federal Way *	52.8°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Auburn *	52.8°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Tacoma	52.7°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
South Hill	52.6°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Lakewood, Washington *	52.6°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Olympia	52.4°	G2 or more	14.2 h	68%	Sep
Yakima	52.3°	G2 or more	14.2 h	58%	Sep
Richland *	52.1°	G2 or more	14.1 h	56%	Sep
Pasco *	52.1°	G2 or more	14.1 h	56%	Sep
Tri-Cities	52.1°	G2 or more	14.1 h	56%	Sep
Kennewick *	52.1°	G2 or more	14.1 h	56%	Sep
Vancouver, Washington *	51.1°	G2 or more	14.1 h	65%	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 Washington is best for the aurora?: By geomagnetic latitude, Bellingham at 54.1°. No town sits at 60 degrees or more, so every town needs some activity.
Which town in Washington has the longest December night?: Bellingham, with 14.4 hours of civil night on December 15.
Which town in Washington has the clearest dark season?: Tri-Cities, with 56% 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 Washington?: September for 13 of 13 towns, by civil night times the clear share of the sky. Each town page gives its own month.

Top towns in Washington

Other regions of United States

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.