Montana · United States · 46.00° N · 112.53° W
Solar position in Butte
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Butte — computed for 46.00° N, 112.53° W, 1688 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Butte today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−6
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:19 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:54 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:29 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:59 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:41 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:14 | 32.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:46 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:28 | 253° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:58 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:33 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:08 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 29 min | |
Sun path diagram for Butte
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 67.4° at solar noon in Butte; on the December solstice only 20.6°. Sunrise swings from 54° NE in June to 124° SE in December — a 70° 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 | 08:03 | 12:41 | 17:19 | 9 h 16 min | 24.3° |
| February | 07:22 | 12:43 | 18:05 | 10 h 43 min | 33.7° |
| March | 07:30 | 13:37 | 19:44 | 12 h 13 min | 44.5° |
| April | 06:33 | 13:28 | 20:25 | 13 h 52 min | 56.1° |
| May | 05:51 | 13:26 | 21:02 | 15 h 11 min | 64.3° |
| June | 05:39 | 13:32 | 21:24 | 15 h 45 min | 67.4° |
| July | 06:00 | 13:36 | 21:12 | 15 h 12 min | 64.3° |
| August | 06:37 | 13:33 | 20:28 | 13 h 51 min | 55.9° |
| September | 07:16 | 13:22 | 19:29 | 12 h 13 min | 44.5° |
| October | 07:55 | 13:14 | 18:33 | 10 h 38 min | 33.1° |
| November | 07:39 | 12:15 | 16:52 | 9 h 13 min | 24.0° |
| December | 08:09 | 12:28 | 16:47 | 8 h 38 min | 20.6° |
A year of daylight in Butte
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 Butte
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
39°collects the most energy over a year: 1543 kWh per kWp.
74°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° | 1258 | 82% | 1.03 | 5.8× |
| 15° | 1432 | 93% | 1.56 | 3.9× |
| 30° | 1526 | 99% | 2.02 | 2.9× |
| 39° year-round best | 1543 | 100% | 2.25 | 2.5× |
| 45° | 1537 | 100% | 2.37 | 2.3× |
| 46° = latitude | 1535 | 99% | 2.39 | 2.2× |
| 60° | 1464 | 95% | 2.59 | 1.8× |
| 70° | 1372 | 89% | 2.65 | 1.7× |
| 74° off-grid best | 1325 | 86% | 2.66 | 1.7× |
| 90° | 1097 | 71% | 2.58 | 1.9× |
A fixed array in Butte produces the most over a year at 39°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 74° it makes 2.66 kWh per kWp a day, 18% more than at 39°, and costs 14% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Butte at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 39° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 39° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 1.63 | 3.46 | 3.23 | 2.78 | -8.3 °C |
| February snow | 2.63 | 4.39 | 4.08 | 3.76 | -7.5 °C |
| March snow | 3.83 | 4.96 | 4.52 | 4.52 | -2.0 °C |
| April | 4.94 | 4.37 | 3.91 | 4.77 | 2.1 °C |
| May | 5.82 | 4.13 | 3.60 | 4.89 | 7.5 °C |
| June | 6.62 | 4.11 | 3.52 | 5.13 | 12.5 °C |
| July | 7.27 | 4.64 | 3.90 | 5.62 | 18.1 °C |
| August | 6.11 | 4.95 | 4.19 | 5.39 | 16.7 °C |
| September | 4.56 | 5.12 | 4.44 | 4.95 | 11.1 °C |
| October | 2.88 | 4.29 | 3.83 | 3.81 | 3.4 °C |
| November snow | 1.73 | 3.57 | 3.26 | 2.84 | -2.9 °C |
| December snow | 1.26 | 2.85 | 2.65 | 2.25 | -8.2 °C |
| Year | 4.12 avg | 4.24 avg | 1372 kWh | 1543 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 440 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 530 Wp at 39°. The steep array is 15% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Butte
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.
6.7 mrow pitch at 70°
5.6 mrow pitch at 39°
How Butte 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.
1635thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 4.12 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,543 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
+40 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 15 h 45 min against 15 h 06 min.
39°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); Butte ranks joint 1635th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.65 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 8 h 38 min, −37 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Butte, 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 Butte
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A free, live card for Butte: 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.