British Columbia · Canada · 56.25° N · 120.85° W
Solar position in Fort St. John
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Fort St. John — computed for 56.25° N, 120.85° W, 696 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Fort St. John today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−7
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:48 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:32 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:15 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:54 | 110° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:49 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:47 | 21.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:44 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:39 | 249° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:18 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:01 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:45 | 18° below |
| Day length | 9 h 45 min | |
Sun path diagram for Fort St. John
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 57.2° at solar noon in Fort St. John; on the December solstice only 10.4°. Sunrise swings from 42° NE in June to 134° SE in December — a 92° 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 | 09:17 | 13:15 | 17:12 | 7 h 55 min | 14.0° |
| February | 08:14 | 13:17 | 18:20 | 10 h 06 min | 23.5° |
| March | 07:02 | 13:10 | 19:19 | 12 h 18 min | 34.3° |
| April | 05:41 | 13:02 | 20:23 | 14 h 42 min | 45.8° |
| May | 04:38 | 13:00 | 21:22 | 16 h 45 min | 54.1° |
| June | 04:14 | 13:05 | 21:55 | 17 h 41 min | 57.2° |
| July | 04:46 | 13:09 | 21:31 | 16 h 45 min | 54.1° |
| August | 05:45 | 13:06 | 20:25 | 14 h 40 min | 45.7° |
| September | 06:47 | 12:56 | 19:04 | 12 h 17 min | 34.2° |
| October | 07:48 | 12:47 | 17:46 | 9 h 58 min | 22.9° |
| November | 08:53 | 12:49 | 16:44 | 7 h 50 min | 13.8° |
| December | 09:34 | 13:01 | 16:28 | 6 h 53 min | 10.4° |
A year of daylight in Fort St. John
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 Fort St. John
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
47°collects the most energy over a year: 1310 kWh per kWp.
82°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° | 968 | 74% | 0.33 | 15.2× |
| 15° | 1148 | 88% | 0.71 | 7.4× |
| 30° | 1264 | 96% | 1.06 | 4.9× |
| 45° | 1309 | 100% | 1.35 | 3.7× |
| 47° year-round best | 1310 | 100% | 1.38 | 3.6× |
| 56° = latitude | 1296 | 99% | 1.51 | 3.2× |
| 60° | 1282 | 98% | 1.55 | 3.1× |
| 70° | 1224 | 93% | 1.63 | 2.8× |
| 82° off-grid best | 1116 | 85% | 1.67 | 2.7× |
| 90° | 1023 | 78% | 1.65 | 2.6× |
A fixed array in Fort St. John produces the most over a year at 47°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 82° it makes 1.67 kWh per kWp a day, 21% more than at 47°, and costs 15% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Fort St. John at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 47° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 47° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 0.66 | 2.10 | 1.98 | 1.71 | -13.0 °C |
| February snow | 1.60 | 3.63 | 3.42 | 3.11 | -11.8 °C |
| March snow | 3.05 | 4.91 | 4.57 | 4.44 | -8.1 °C |
| April | 4.64 | 4.95 | 4.46 | 4.97 | 0.6 °C |
| May | 5.51 | 4.65 | 4.05 | 4.89 | 8.1 °C |
| June | 6.05 | 4.56 | 3.90 | 4.89 | 13.0 °C |
| July | 5.83 | 4.60 | 3.90 | 4.82 | 15.4 °C |
| August | 4.76 | 4.61 | 3.93 | 4.54 | 14.2 °C |
| September | 3.22 | 4.23 | 3.69 | 3.89 | 8.8 °C |
| October | 1.71 | 3.11 | 2.79 | 2.70 | 1.4 °C |
| November snow | 0.76 | 2.13 | 1.96 | 1.72 | -7.6 °C |
| December snow | 0.46 | 1.74 | 1.63 | 1.38 | -13.1 °C |
| Year | 3.20 avg | 3.77 avg | 1224 kWh | 1310 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 720 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 850 Wp at 47°. The steep array is 15% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Fort St. John
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.
15.7 mrow pitch at 70°
13.0 mrow pitch at 47°
How Fort St. John compares in Canada
Against the other 295 places in Canada with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
285thof 296 places in Canada for sunshine, shared: 3.20 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+1%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Canada: 1,310 against 1,292 kWh per kWp.
+2 h 14 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Toronto: 17 h 41 min against 15 h 27 min.
47°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); Fort St. John ranks joint 285th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.63 kWh a day here, against 1.88 kWh on average in Canada. The shortest day lasts 6 h 53 min, −2 h 02 min compared with Toronto.
Solar forecast for Fort St. John, 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 Fort St. John: 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.