California · United States · 38.60° N · 121.38° W
Solar position in Arden-Arcade
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Arden-Arcade — computed for 38.60° N, 121.38° W, 17 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Arden-Arcade today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−7
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:55 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:25 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:56 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:24 | 105° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:00 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:49 | 39.4° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:38 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:14 | 255° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:41 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:12 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:43 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 51 min | |
Sun path diagram for Arden-Arcade
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 74.8° at solar noon in Arden-Arcade; on the December solstice only 28.0°. Sunrise swings from 59° ENE in June to 120° ESE in December — a 61° 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 | 07:18 | 12:17 | 17:15 | 9 h 56 min | 31.7° |
| February | 06:48 | 12:19 | 17:50 | 11 h 02 min | 41.1° |
| March | 07:07 | 13:12 | 19:18 | 12 h 11 min | 51.9° |
| April | 06:20 | 13:04 | 19:48 | 13 h 27 min | 63.5° |
| May | 05:48 | 13:02 | 20:15 | 14 h 27 min | 71.7° |
| June | 05:41 | 13:07 | 20:33 | 14 h 52 min | 74.8° |
| July | 05:58 | 13:11 | 20:25 | 14 h 27 min | 71.7° |
| August | 06:25 | 13:08 | 19:51 | 13 h 26 min | 63.3° |
| September | 06:52 | 12:58 | 19:03 | 12 h 11 min | 51.9° |
| October | 07:20 | 12:49 | 18:18 | 10 h 58 min | 40.5° |
| November | 06:54 | 11:51 | 16:48 | 9 h 54 min | 31.4° |
| December | 07:19 | 12:03 | 16:47 | 9 h 28 min | 28.0° |
A year of daylight in Arden-Arcade
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 Arden-Arcade
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
32°collects the most energy over a year: 1790 kWh per kWp.
63°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° | 1543 | 86% | 1.58 | 4.2× |
| 15° | 1718 | 96% | 2.26 | 2.9× |
| 30° | 1789 | 100% | 2.79 | 2.2× |
| 32° year-round best | 1790 | 100% | 2.85 | 2.1× |
| 39° = latitude | 1779 | 99% | 3.03 | 1.9× |
| 45° | 1752 | 98% | 3.15 | 1.8× |
| 60° | 1610 | 90% | 3.31 | 1.6× |
| 63° off-grid best | 1570 | 88% | 3.31 | 1.6× |
| 70° | 1462 | 82% | 3.29 | 1.5× |
| 90° | 1066 | 60% | 2.99 | 2.5× |
A fixed array in Arden-Arcade produces the most over a year at 32°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 63° it makes 3.31 kWh per kWp a day, 16% more than at 32°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Arden-Arcade at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 32° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 32° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.21 | 3.89 | 3.41 | 3.05 | 7.8 °C |
| February | 3.29 | 4.70 | 4.11 | 4.02 | 8.9 °C |
| March | 4.59 | 4.98 | 4.32 | 4.82 | 11.1 °C |
| April | 6.10 | 4.82 | 4.13 | 5.52 | 13.3 °C |
| May | 7.43 | 4.38 | 3.69 | 5.88 | 17.4 °C |
| June | 8.30 | 4.09 | 3.37 | 6.01 | 22.0 °C |
| July | 8.25 | 4.32 | 3.53 | 6.04 | 25.0 °C |
| August | 7.38 | 5.07 | 4.16 | 6.04 | 24.4 °C |
| September | 5.96 | 5.90 | 4.88 | 5.78 | 22.5 °C |
| October | 4.28 | 5.94 | 5.02 | 5.02 | 17.6 °C |
| November | 2.75 | 4.83 | 4.18 | 3.76 | 11.7 °C |
| December | 1.97 | 3.75 | 3.29 | 2.85 | 7.7 °C |
| Year | 5.22 avg | 4.72 avg | 1462 kWh | 1790 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 360 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 410 Wp at 32°. The steep array is 13% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Arden-Arcade
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.
4.8 mrow pitch at 70°
4.0 mrow pitch at 32°
How Arden-Arcade 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.
406thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 5.22 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+18%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,790 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
−14 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 14 h 52 min against 15 h 06 min.
32°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); Arden-Arcade ranks joint 406th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 3.29 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 9 h 28 min, +13 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Arden-Arcade, 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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A free, live card for Arden-Arcade: 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.