Ontario · Canada · 42.41° N · 82.18° W
Solar position in Chatham
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Chatham — computed for 42.41° N, 82.18° W, 183 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Chatham today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−4
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:18 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:50 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:23 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:52 | 105° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:31 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:12 | 35.7° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:53 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:32 | 254° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:01 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:34 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:06 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 40 min | |
Sun path diagram for Chatham
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 71.0° at solar noon in Chatham; on the December solstice only 24.2°. Sunrise swings from 56° ENE in June to 122° ESE in December — a 65° 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 | 07:51 | 12:40 | 17:28 | 9 h 37 min | 27.8° |
| February | 07:16 | 12:42 | 18:08 | 10 h 52 min | 37.2° |
| March | 07:30 | 13:36 | 19:42 | 12 h 12 min | 48.0° |
| April | 06:38 | 13:27 | 20:17 | 13 h 39 min | 59.6° |
| May | 06:01 | 13:25 | 20:49 | 14 h 48 min | 67.9° |
| June | 05:51 | 13:30 | 21:09 | 15 h 18 min | 71.0° |
| July | 06:10 | 13:35 | 20:59 | 14 h 49 min | 68.0° |
| August | 06:42 | 13:31 | 20:20 | 13 h 38 min | 59.5° |
| September | 07:15 | 13:21 | 19:27 | 12 h 12 min | 48.1° |
| October | 07:48 | 13:13 | 18:37 | 10 h 48 min | 36.7° |
| November | 07:27 | 12:14 | 17:01 | 9 h 35 min | 27.6° |
| December | 07:54 | 12:26 | 16:59 | 9 h 04 min | 24.2° |
A year of daylight in Chatham
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 Chatham
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
34°collects the most energy over a year: 1311 kWh per kWp.
66°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° | 1131 | 86% | 0.98 | 5.2× |
| 15° | 1255 | 96% | 1.35 | 3.8× |
| 30° | 1309 | 100% | 1.64 | 3.0× |
| 34° year-round best | 1311 | 100% | 1.71 | 2.8× |
| 42° = latitude | 1299 | 99% | 1.81 | 2.5× |
| 45° | 1290 | 98% | 1.85 | 2.4× |
| 60° | 1200 | 92% | 1.95 | 2.0× |
| 66° off-grid best | 1145 | 87% | 1.96 | 1.9× |
| 70° | 1104 | 84% | 1.95 | 1.9× |
| 90° | 842 | 64% | 1.82 | 1.5× |
A fixed array in Chatham produces the most over a year at 34°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 66° it makes 1.96 kWh per kWp a day, 15% more than at 34°, and costs 13% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Chatham at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 34° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 34° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 1.44 | 2.53 | 2.31 | 1.99 | -3.6 °C |
| February snow | 2.18 | 3.27 | 2.98 | 2.75 | -3.4 °C |
| March | 3.42 | 3.73 | 3.34 | 3.70 | 1.0 °C |
| April | 4.66 | 3.92 | 3.43 | 4.35 | 7.0 °C |
| May | 5.53 | 3.74 | 3.19 | 4.57 | 13.3 °C |
| June | 6.25 | 3.74 | 3.11 | 4.81 | 19.1 °C |
| July | 6.22 | 3.89 | 3.20 | 4.82 | 22.5 °C |
| August | 5.40 | 4.13 | 3.41 | 4.58 | 22.2 °C |
| September | 4.30 | 4.37 | 3.67 | 4.24 | 18.6 °C |
| October | 2.76 | 3.65 | 3.15 | 3.19 | 11.9 °C |
| November | 1.75 | 2.90 | 2.56 | 2.35 | 5.5 °C |
| December snow | 1.22 | 2.18 | 1.95 | 1.71 | -0.1 °C |
| Year | 3.77 avg | 3.50 avg | 1104 kWh | 1311 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 600 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 690 Wp at 34°. The steep array is 13% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Chatham
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.
5.6 mrow pitch at 70°
4.6 mrow pitch at 34°
How Chatham compares in Canada
Against the other 295 places in Canada with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
7thof 296 places in Canada for sunshine, shared: 3.77 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Canada: 1,311 against 1,292 kWh per kWp.
−10 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Toronto: 15 h 18 min against 15 h 27 min.
34°best year-round tilt here; across Canada it runs from 34° in Hamilton to 52° in Yellowknife.
Of the 296 places in Canada, Medicine Hat and one other place get the most sun (3.84 peak sun hours a day) and Terrace the least (2.57); Chatham ranks joint 7th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.95 kWh a day here, against 1.88 kWh on average in Canada. The shortest day lasts 9 h 04 min, +9 min compared with Toronto.
Solar forecast for Chatham, 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 Chatham
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Places near Chatham
Put this on your site
A free, live card for Chatham: 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.