England · United Kingdom · 52.06° N · 2.71° W
Solar position in Hereford
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Hereford — computed for 52.06° N, 2.71° W, 61 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Hereford today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+1
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:58 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:37 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:16 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:51 | 108° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:39 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:54 | 26.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:09 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:57 | 251° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:32 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:12 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:51 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 06 min | |
Sun path diagram for Hereford
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 61.4° at solar noon in Hereford; on the December solstice only 14.6°. Sunrise swings from 48° NE in June to 129° SE in December — a 81° 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 | 08:06 | 12:22 | 16:38 | 8 h 33 min | 18.2° |
| February | 07:13 | 12:24 | 17:35 | 10 h 22 min | 27.5° |
| March | 06:11 | 12:18 | 18:25 | 12 h 14 min | 38.3° |
| April | 06:01 | 13:09 | 20:18 | 14 h 18 min | 49.9° |
| May | 05:08 | 13:07 | 21:07 | 15 h 59 min | 58.2° |
| June | 04:50 | 13:12 | 21:35 | 16 h 45 min | 61.4° |
| July | 05:16 | 13:17 | 21:17 | 16 h 01 min | 58.4° |
| August | 06:04 | 13:13 | 20:22 | 14 h 18 min | 50.0° |
| September | 06:55 | 13:03 | 19:11 | 12 h 17 min | 38.5° |
| October | 07:46 | 12:55 | 18:04 | 10 h 18 min | 27.2° |
| November | 07:41 | 11:56 | 16:11 | 8 h 31 min | 18.0° |
| December | 08:16 | 12:08 | 16:00 | 7 h 44 min | 14.6° |
A year of daylight in Hereford
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 Hereford
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
41°collects the most energy over a year: 1059 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° | 851 | 80% | 0.43 | 10.0× |
| 15° | 974 | 92% | 0.74 | 6.0× |
| 30° | 1044 | 99% | 1.01 | 4.4× |
| 41° year-round best | 1059 | 100% | 1.16 | 3.7× |
| 45° | 1056 | 100% | 1.21 | 3.4× |
| 52° = latitude | 1042 | 98% | 1.28 | 3.1× |
| 60° | 1010 | 95% | 1.34 | 2.8× |
| 70° | 948 | 89% | 1.37 | 2.5× |
| 74° off-grid best | 916 | 87% | 1.38 | 2.4× |
| 90° | 760 | 72% | 1.32 | 2.0× |
A fixed array in Hereford produces the most over a year at 41°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 74° it makes 1.38 kWh per kWp a day, 18% more than at 41°, and costs 13% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Hereford at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 41° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 41° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.77 | 1.83 | 1.61 | 1.40 | 4.2 °C |
| February | 1.44 | 2.51 | 2.22 | 2.10 | 4.2 °C |
| March | 2.59 | 3.32 | 2.92 | 3.05 | 5.7 °C |
| April | 4.01 | 3.91 | 3.40 | 3.95 | 8.3 °C |
| May | 4.92 | 3.90 | 3.35 | 4.25 | 11.5 °C |
| June | 5.18 | 3.74 | 3.16 | 4.18 | 14.5 °C |
| July | 4.89 | 3.67 | 3.08 | 4.01 | 16.3 °C |
| August | 4.04 | 3.56 | 3.00 | 3.62 | 15.9 °C |
| September | 3.11 | 3.55 | 3.03 | 3.30 | 13.8 °C |
| October | 1.74 | 2.64 | 2.27 | 2.24 | 10.6 °C |
| November | 0.92 | 1.98 | 1.72 | 1.54 | 7.1 °C |
| December | 0.59 | 1.57 | 1.37 | 1.16 | 4.9 °C |
| Year | 2.86 avg | 3.02 avg | 948 kWh | 1059 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 860 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 1,010 Wp at 41°. The steep array is 15% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Hereford
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.
10.0 mrow pitch at 70°
8.0 mrow pitch at 41°
How Hereford compares in the United Kingdom
Against the other 801 places in the United Kingdom with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
406thof 802 places in the United Kingdom for sunshine, shared: 2.86 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
±0%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United Kingdom: 1,059 against 1,058 kWh per kWp.
+6 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with London: 16 h 45 min against 16 h 38 min.
41°best year-round tilt here; across the United Kingdom it runs from 38° in Plymouth to 45° in Elgin.
Of the 802 places in the United Kingdom, Sandown and 2 other places get the most sun (3.23 peak sun hours a day) and Fort William the least (2.32); Hereford ranks joint 406th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.37 kWh a day here, against 1.32 kWh on average in the United Kingdom. The shortest day lasts 7 h 44 min, −6 min compared with London.
Solar forecast for Hereford, 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 Hereford
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A free, live card for Hereford: 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.