Hawaii · United States · 19.73° N · 155.09° W
Solar position in Hilo
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Hilo — computed for 19.73° N, 155.09° W, 18 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Hilo today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−10
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:04 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 05:30 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:55 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:18 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:48 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:04 | 58.3° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:20 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:50 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:12 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:38 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:04 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 32 min | |
Sun path diagram for Hilo
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 86.3° at solar noon in Hilo; on the December solstice only 46.8°. Sunrise swings from 65° ENE in June to 115° ESE in December — a 50° 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 | 06:57 | 12:31 | 18:06 | 11 h 09 min | 50.5° |
| February | 06:45 | 12:33 | 18:22 | 11 h 37 min | 60.0° |
| March | 06:23 | 12:27 | 18:31 | 12 h 08 min | 70.8° |
| April | 05:57 | 12:18 | 18:40 | 12 h 42 min | 82.4° |
| May | 05:42 | 12:16 | 18:51 | 13 h 09 min | 89.4° |
| June | 05:42 | 12:22 | 19:02 | 13 h 19 min | 86.3° |
| July | 05:52 | 12:26 | 19:01 | 13 h 09 min | 89.4° |
| August | 06:02 | 12:23 | 18:44 | 12 h 42 min | 82.1° |
| September | 06:09 | 12:13 | 18:17 | 12 h 08 min | 70.7° |
| October | 06:17 | 12:04 | 17:52 | 11 h 35 min | 59.3° |
| November | 06:32 | 12:06 | 17:39 | 11 h 07 min | 50.2° |
| December | 06:50 | 12:18 | 17:46 | 10 h 56 min | 46.8° |
A year of daylight in Hilo
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 Hilo
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
18°collects the most energy over a year: 1679 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 | December kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1610 | 96% | 3.21 | 1.6× |
| 15° | 1677 | 100% | 3.89 | 1.3× |
| 18° year-round best | 1679 | 100% | 4.00 | 1.2× |
| 20° = latitude | 1677 | 100% | 4.07 | 1.2× |
| 28° off-grid best | 1655 | 99% | 4.29 | 1.1× |
| 30° | 1645 | 98% | 4.33 | 1.1× |
| 45° | 1518 | 90% | 4.51 | 1.5× |
| 60° | 1306 | 78% | 4.41 | 2.1× |
| 70° | 1128 | 67% | 4.20 | 2.7× |
| 90° | 757 | 45% | 3.43 | 3.8× |
A fixed array in Hilo produces the most over a year at 18°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 28° it makes 4.29 kWh per kWp a day, 7% more than at 18°, and costs 1% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Hilo at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 18° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 18° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.44 | 5.38 | 4.48 | 4.38 | 21.0 °C |
| February | 4.90 | 4.75 | 3.96 | 4.52 | 20.7 °C |
| March | 5.36 | 3.98 | 3.31 | 4.61 | 20.9 °C |
| April | 5.97 | 3.17 | 2.62 | 4.79 | 21.4 °C |
| May | 6.31 | 2.39 | 1.94 | 4.78 | 22.1 °C |
| June | 6.42 | 2.03 | 1.63 | 4.71 | 22.6 °C |
| July | 6.48 | 2.18 | 1.76 | 4.80 | 23.2 °C |
| August | 6.32 | 2.82 | 2.30 | 4.90 | 23.6 °C |
| September | 5.91 | 3.83 | 3.15 | 4.91 | 23.6 °C |
| October | 5.14 | 4.53 | 3.74 | 4.58 | 23.3 °C |
| November | 4.39 | 4.88 | 4.05 | 4.19 | 22.6 °C |
| December | 4.03 | 5.04 | 4.20 | 4.00 | 21.6 °C |
| Year | 5.47 avg | 3.74 avg | 1128 kWh | 1679 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 720 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 290 Wp at 18°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Hilo
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.
2.7 mrow pitch at 70°
2.5 mrow pitch at 18°
How Hilo compares in the United States
Against the other 3,120 places in the United States with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
239thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 5.47 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+11%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,679 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
−1 h 46 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 13 h 19 min against 15 h 06 min.
18°best year-round tilt here; across the United States it runs from 18° in Honolulu to 53° in Fairbanks.
Of the 3,121 places in the United States, Fortuna Foothills and 2 other places get the most sun (5.96 peak sun hours a day) and Juneau the least (2.38); Hilo ranks joint 239th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.63 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 10 h 56 min, +1 h 41 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Hilo, 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 Hilo
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Places near Hilo
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A free, live card for Hilo: 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.