Iwate · Japan · 39.38° N · 141.12° E
Solar position in Hanamaki
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Hanamaki — computed for 39.38° N, 141.12° E, 77 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Hanamaki today
Sunday, 25 October 2026 · local time UTC+9
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:25 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:56 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:27 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:55 | 105° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:32 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:19 | 38.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:06 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 16:43 | 255° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 17:10 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 17:42 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:13 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 48 min | |
Sun path diagram for Hanamaki
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 74.1° at solar noon in Hanamaki; on the December solstice only 27.2°. Sunrise swings from 58° ENE in June to 120° ESE in December — a 62° 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 | 06:51 | 11:46 | 16:42 | 9 h 51 min | 30.7° |
| February | 06:20 | 11:49 | 17:18 | 10 h 58 min | 40.0° |
| March | 05:38 | 11:42 | 17:47 | 12 h 10 min | 50.8° |
| April | 04:50 | 11:34 | 18:18 | 13 h 28 min | 62.5° |
| May | 04:17 | 11:32 | 18:47 | 14 h 30 min | 70.8° |
| June | 04:08 | 11:37 | 19:05 | 14 h 57 min | 74.1° |
| July | 04:25 | 11:41 | 18:58 | 14 h 33 min | 71.1° |
| August | 04:53 | 11:38 | 18:23 | 13 h 30 min | 62.8° |
| September | 05:21 | 11:28 | 17:35 | 12 h 13 min | 51.4° |
| October | 05:51 | 11:20 | 16:48 | 10 h 58 min | 40.0° |
| November | 06:25 | 11:21 | 16:16 | 9 h 51 min | 30.8° |
| December | 06:51 | 11:33 | 16:15 | 9 h 23 min | 27.2° |
A year of daylight in Hanamaki
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 Hanamaki
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
33°collects the most energy over a year: 1191 kWh per kWp.
62°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° | 1034 | 87% | 1.25 | 3.3× |
| 15° | 1143 | 96% | 1.71 | 2.5× |
| 30° | 1190 | 100% | 2.07 | 2.0× |
| 33° year-round best | 1191 | 100% | 2.12 | 1.9× |
| 39° = latitude | 1187 | 100% | 2.22 | 1.8× |
| 45° | 1172 | 98% | 2.30 | 1.7× |
| 60° | 1092 | 92% | 2.39 | 1.5× |
| 62° off-grid best | 1077 | 90% | 2.39 | 1.4× |
| 70° | 1006 | 84% | 2.37 | 1.4× |
| 90° | 773 | 65% | 2.13 | 1.8× |
A fixed array in Hanamaki produces the most over a year at 33°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 62° it makes 2.39 kWh per kWp a day, 12% more than at 33°, and costs 10% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Hanamaki at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 33° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 33° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 1.80 | 2.98 | 2.70 | 2.43 | -1.8 °C |
| February snow | 2.52 | 3.34 | 3.03 | 2.98 | -1.7 °C |
| March | 3.50 | 3.53 | 3.16 | 3.60 | 1.8 °C |
| April | 4.49 | 3.58 | 3.13 | 4.07 | 7.1 °C |
| May | 4.99 | 3.27 | 2.78 | 4.07 | 12.8 °C |
| June | 4.99 | 3.01 | 2.51 | 3.84 | 17.3 °C |
| July | 4.37 | 2.77 | 2.27 | 3.36 | 21.2 °C |
| August | 4.38 | 3.19 | 2.62 | 3.58 | 22.6 °C |
| September | 3.70 | 3.39 | 2.83 | 3.40 | 19.0 °C |
| October | 2.88 | 3.45 | 2.96 | 3.12 | 12.9 °C |
| November | 2.02 | 3.16 | 2.77 | 2.60 | 6.9 °C |
| December | 1.54 | 2.64 | 2.37 | 2.12 | 1.1 °C |
| Year | 3.43 avg | 3.19 avg | 1006 kWh | 1191 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through July on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 520 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 560 Wp at 33°. The steep array is 6% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Hanamaki
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.
4.9 mrow pitch at 70°
4.1 mrow pitch at 33°
How Hanamaki compares in Japan
Against the other 1,215 places in Japan with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1116thof 1,216 places in Japan for sunshine, shared: 3.44 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−7%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Japan: 1,191 against 1,284 kWh per kWp.
+22 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Tokyo: 14 h 57 min against 14 h 35 min.
33°best year-round tilt here; across Japan it runs from 17° in Miyakojima to 41° in Kushiro.
Of the 1,216 places in Japan, Miyakojima gets the most sun (4.34 peak sun hours a day) and Wakkanai and one other place the least (3.17); Hanamaki ranks joint 1116th. In its darkest month, July, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.27 kWh a day here, against 2.14 kWh on average in Japan. The shortest day lasts 9 h 23 min, −21 min compared with Tokyo.
Solar forecast for Hanamaki, 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 Hanamaki
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Places near Hanamaki
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A free, live card for Hanamaki: 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.