Alaska · United States · 61.22° N · 149.90° W
Solar position in Anchorage
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Anchorage — computed for 61.22° N, 149.90° W, 31 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Anchorage today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−8
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:40 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:30 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 08:21 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 09:06 | 114° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 10:13 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:43 | 16.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:13 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:19 | 246° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:05 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:55 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:45 | 18° below |
| Day length | 9 h 13 min | |
Sun path diagram for Anchorage
Where the sun stands in the sky: the centre is straight overhead, the outer ring is the horizon. Numbers mark local clock hours.
- June solstice
- Equinox
- December solstice
- Today
On the June solstice the sun reaches 52.2° at solar noon in Anchorage; on the December solstice only 5.5°. Sunrise swings from 32° NNE in June to 143° SE in December — a 112° arc along the horizon.
Sunrise, sunset and sun height by month
Values for the 21st of each month, local clock time including daylight saving time.
| Month | Sunrise | Solar noon | Sunset | Day length | Noon elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 09:44 | 13:11 | 16:37 | 6 h 53 min | 9.1° |
| February | 08:23 | 13:13 | 18:03 | 9 h 40 min | 18.5° |
| March | 07:56 | 14:07 | 20:17 | 12 h 21 min | 29.3° |
| April | 06:19 | 13:58 | 21:38 | 15 h 19 min | 40.9° |
| May | 04:57 | 13:56 | 22:56 | 18 h 00 min | 49.1° |
| June | 04:20 | 14:01 | 23:42 | 19 h 22 min | 52.2° |
| July | 05:05 | 14:05 | 23:04 | 18 h 00 min | 49.1° |
| August | 06:24 | 14:02 | 21:39 | 15 h 15 min | 40.7° |
| September | 07:41 | 13:52 | 20:01 | 12 h 20 min | 29.2° |
| October | 08:58 | 13:43 | 18:28 | 9 h 30 min | 17.9° |
| November | 09:22 | 12:45 | 16:08 | 6 h 46 min | 8.8° |
| December | 10:14 | 12:57 | 15:41 | 5 h 27 min | 5.5° |
A year of daylight in Anchorage
Each column is one day of 2026. Bright: sun above the horizon; soft: civil twilight; line: solar noon. Steps are daylight saving time changes.
Best solar panel angle in Anchorage
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
48°collects the most energy over a year: 1020 kWh per kWp.
85°gives the most in the darkest month — the one an off-grid system is sized for.
- Yearly energy
- Worst-month energy
| Tilt | kWh/kWp per year | Share of best year | December kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 758 | 74% | 0.09 | 48.9× |
| 15° | 893 | 88% | 0.22 | 21.2× |
| 30° | 982 | 96% | 0.34 | 13.6× |
| 45° | 1019 | 100% | 0.45 | 10.0× |
| 48° year-round best | 1020 | 100% | 0.47 | 9.4× |
| 60° | 1001 | 98% | 0.53 | 7.9× |
| 61° = latitude | 998 | 98% | 0.53 | 7.8× |
| 70° | 960 | 94% | 0.56 | 7.2× |
| 85° off-grid best | 858 | 84% | 0.58 | 6.8× |
| 90° | 814 | 80% | 0.58 | 6.6× |
A fixed array in Anchorage produces the most over a year at 48°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 85° it makes 0.58 kWh per kWp a day, 24% more than at 48°, and costs 16% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Anchorage at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 48° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 48° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 0.29 | 1.20 | 1.10 | 0.93 | -9.1 °C |
| February snow | 0.91 | 2.25 | 2.07 | 1.86 | -7.2 °C |
| March snow | 2.43 | 4.42 | 4.08 | 3.88 | -5.9 °C |
| April | 3.96 | 4.43 | 3.97 | 4.33 | 0.7 °C |
| May | 4.86 | 4.32 | 3.77 | 4.39 | 6.6 °C |
| June | 5.29 | 4.30 | 3.68 | 4.42 | 11.3 °C |
| July | 4.74 | 3.99 | 3.38 | 4.01 | 13.5 °C |
| August | 3.72 | 3.70 | 3.16 | 3.55 | 12.6 °C |
| September | 2.37 | 3.14 | 2.73 | 2.84 | 8.1 °C |
| October | 1.11 | 2.05 | 1.82 | 1.75 | 1.4 °C |
| November snow | 0.39 | 1.34 | 1.22 | 1.05 | -6.1 °C |
| December snow | 0.14 | 0.64 | 0.56 | 0.47 | -7.8 °C |
| Year | 2.53 avg | 2.98 avg | 960 kWh | 1020 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through December on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 2,090 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 2,510 Wp at 48°. The steep array is 17% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Anchorage
Distance between rows of 2 m long panels (slope length) so that no row shades the next between 10:00 and 14:00 solar time on the winter solstice.
—The winter sun stays too low for rows to be shade-free; use a single row.
How Anchorage compares in the United States
Against the other 3,120 places in the United States with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
3119thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine: 2.53 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−33%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,020 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
+4 h 17 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 19 h 22 min against 15 h 06 min.
48°best year-round tilt here; across the United States it runs from 18° in Honolulu to 53° in Fairbanks.
Of the 3,121 places in the United States, Fortuna Foothills and 2 other places get the most sun (5.96 peak sun hours a day) and Juneau the least (2.38); Anchorage ranks 3119th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.56 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 5 h 27 min, −3 h 48 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Anchorage, next 48 hours
Expected output of 1 kWp at 70°, computed from the ICON-EU weather model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Europe.
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Questions about the sun in Anchorage
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Places near Anchorage
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A free, live card for Anchorage: where the sun is right now on today's path, a countdown to sunset or sunrise, the daylight change, the moon phase at night and the best panel angle.
Sun positions: NREL Solar Position Algorithm. Climate: NASA POWER monthly climatology (NASA Langley Research Center). Forecast: Deutscher Wetterdienst, ICON-EU (CC BY 4.0), processed. Places: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Time zones: IANA. Sources and licences.