San Luis Potosí · Mexico · 22.00° N · 99.64° W
Solar position in Cárdenas
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Cárdenas — computed for 22.00° N, 99.64° W, 1220 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Cárdenas today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−6
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:23 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:49 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:15 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:38 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:08 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:22 | 56.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:36 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:06 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:29 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:55 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:21 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 28 min | |
Sun path diagram for Cárdenas
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 88.6° at solar noon in Cárdenas; on the December solstice only 44.6°. Sunrise swings from 64° ENE in June to 115° ESE in December — a 51° 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 | 07:19 | 12:50 | 18:20 | 11 h 01 min | 48.2° |
| February | 07:05 | 12:52 | 18:38 | 11 h 33 min | 57.7° |
| March | 06:41 | 12:45 | 18:50 | 12 h 09 min | 68.5° |
| April | 06:13 | 12:37 | 19:00 | 12 h 47 min | 80.1° |
| May | 05:57 | 12:35 | 19:13 | 13 h 17 min | 88.3° |
| June | 05:56 | 12:40 | 19:24 | 13 h 29 min | 88.6° |
| July | 06:06 | 12:45 | 19:23 | 13 h 17 min | 88.4° |
| August | 06:18 | 12:41 | 19:04 | 12 h 46 min | 79.9° |
| September | 06:27 | 12:31 | 18:35 | 12 h 09 min | 68.5° |
| October | 06:37 | 12:23 | 18:08 | 11 h 32 min | 57.1° |
| November | 06:54 | 12:24 | 17:54 | 11 h 00 min | 48.0° |
| December | 07:13 | 12:36 | 18:00 | 10 h 47 min | 44.6° |
A year of daylight in Cárdenas
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 Cárdenas
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
20°collects the most energy over a year: 1663 kWh per kWp.
28°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 | January kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1574 | 95% | 3.22 | 1.6× |
| 15° | 1656 | 100% | 3.88 | 1.3× |
| 20° year-round best | 1663 | 100% | 4.05 | 1.2× |
| 22° = latitude | 1662 | 100% | 4.11 | 1.2× |
| 28° off-grid best | 1650 | 99% | 4.27 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 1643 | 99% | 4.31 | 1.2× |
| 45° | 1535 | 92% | 4.48 | 1.4× |
| 60° | 1342 | 81% | 4.37 | 1.8× |
| 70° | 1174 | 71% | 4.15 | 2.3× |
| 90° | 802 | 48% | 3.38 | 3.4× |
A fixed array in Cárdenas produces the most over a year at 20°. The design month for an off-grid system is January: at 28° it makes 4.27 kWh per kWp a day, 5% more than at 20°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Cárdenas at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 20° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 20° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.91 | 4.84 | 4.15 | 4.05 | 13.8 °C |
| February | 4.79 | 4.90 | 4.17 | 4.63 | 16.3 °C |
| March | 5.72 | 4.47 | 3.75 | 5.06 | 18.9 °C |
| April | 6.26 | 3.43 | 2.83 | 5.03 | 22.2 °C |
| May | 6.30 | 2.62 | 2.13 | 4.74 | 23.3 °C |
| June | 6.32 | 2.29 | 1.85 | 4.63 | 22.7 °C |
| July | 6.12 | 2.46 | 2.01 | 4.59 | 21.4 °C |
| August | 6.16 | 3.05 | 2.51 | 4.83 | 21.5 °C |
| September | 5.21 | 3.58 | 2.98 | 4.40 | 20.3 °C |
| October | 4.82 | 4.45 | 3.75 | 4.46 | 18.7 °C |
| November | 4.14 | 4.91 | 4.18 | 4.20 | 15.9 °C |
| December | 3.83 | 5.05 | 4.32 | 4.05 | 14.4 °C |
| Year | 5.30 avg | 3.83 avg | 1174 kWh | 1663 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through June on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 640 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 290 Wp at 20°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Cárdenas
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.
2.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.7 mrow pitch at 20°
How Cárdenas compares in Mexico
Against the other 624 places in Mexico with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
490thof 625 places in Mexico for sunshine, shared: 5.30 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−5%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Mexico: 1,663 against 1,754 kWh per kWp.
+11 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Mexico City: 13 h 29 min against 13 h 18 min.
20°best year-round tilt here; across Mexico it runs from 15° in Coatzacoalcos to 30° in Tijuana.
Of the 625 places in Mexico, Ciudad Constitución gets the most sun (6.12 peak sun hours a day) and Poza Rica de Hidalgo and one other place the least (4.59); Cárdenas ranks joint 490th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.85 kWh a day here, against 1.82 kWh on average in Mexico. The shortest day lasts 10 h 47 min, −10 min compared with Mexico City.
Solar forecast for Cárdenas, 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 Cárdenas
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Places near Cárdenas
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A free, live card for Cárdenas: 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.