Scotland · United Kingdom · 55.83° N · 4.52° W
Solar position in Johnstone
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Johnstone — computed for 55.83° N, 4.52° W, 36 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Johnstone today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+1
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:03 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:45 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:29 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:07 | 110° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 09:01 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:01 | 22.4° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:01 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:56 | 250° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:34 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:17 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:00 | 18° below |
| Day length | 9 h 49 min | |
Sun path diagram for Johnstone
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 57.6° at solar noon in Johnstone; on the December solstice only 10.8°. Sunrise swings from 43° NE in June to 133° SE in December — a 90° 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 | 08:30 | 12:29 | 16:28 | 7 h 58 min | 14.4° |
| February | 07:28 | 12:32 | 17:35 | 10 h 06 min | 23.8° |
| March | 06:17 | 12:25 | 18:33 | 12 h 16 min | 34.5° |
| April | 05:58 | 13:17 | 20:36 | 14 h 38 min | 46.1° |
| May | 04:55 | 13:14 | 21:34 | 16 h 39 min | 54.4° |
| June | 04:32 | 13:19 | 22:07 | 17 h 35 min | 57.6° |
| July | 05:03 | 13:24 | 21:44 | 16 h 41 min | 54.6° |
| August | 06:01 | 13:20 | 20:39 | 14 h 39 min | 46.2° |
| September | 07:01 | 13:10 | 19:19 | 12 h 19 min | 34.8° |
| October | 08:01 | 13:02 | 18:03 | 10 h 02 min | 23.4° |
| November | 08:05 | 12:03 | 16:01 | 7 h 56 min | 14.3° |
| December | 08:46 | 12:16 | 15:45 | 6 h 59 min | 10.8° |
A year of daylight in Johnstone
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 Johnstone
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
43°collects the most energy over a year: 942 kWh per kWp.
77°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° | 738 | 78% | 0.24 | 16.5× |
| 15° | 854 | 91% | 0.46 | 9.2× |
| 30° | 924 | 98% | 0.66 | 6.5× |
| 43° year-round best | 942 | 100% | 0.80 | 5.2× |
| 45° | 942 | 100% | 0.81 | 5.1× |
| 56° = latitude | 922 | 98% | 0.89 | 4.3× |
| 60° | 908 | 96% | 0.92 | 4.1× |
| 70° | 857 | 91% | 0.95 | 3.6× |
| 77° off-grid best | 810 | 86% | 0.96 | 3.3× |
| 90° | 698 | 74% | 0.94 | 2.8× |
A fixed array in Johnstone produces the most over a year at 43°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 77° it makes 0.96 kWh per kWp a day, 21% more than at 43°, and costs 14% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Johnstone at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 43° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 43° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.47 | 1.28 | 1.12 | 0.96 | 3.0 °C |
| February | 1.14 | 2.22 | 1.97 | 1.82 | 2.9 °C |
| March | 2.24 | 3.09 | 2.73 | 2.79 | 4.0 °C |
| April | 3.68 | 3.82 | 3.35 | 3.78 | 6.4 °C |
| May | 4.68 | 3.92 | 3.39 | 4.17 | 9.3 °C |
| June | 4.62 | 3.51 | 2.99 | 3.81 | 12.2 °C |
| July | 4.37 | 3.45 | 2.92 | 3.66 | 13.7 °C |
| August | 3.57 | 3.29 | 2.80 | 3.28 | 13.3 °C |
| September | 2.52 | 3.01 | 2.58 | 2.75 | 11.4 °C |
| October | 1.38 | 2.31 | 2.00 | 1.93 | 8.6 °C |
| November | 0.64 | 1.59 | 1.39 | 1.21 | 5.6 °C |
| December | 0.35 | 1.09 | 0.95 | 0.80 | 3.7 °C |
| Year | 2.48 avg | 2.72 avg | 857 kWh | 942 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 1,240 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 1,480 Wp at 43°. The steep array is 16% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Johnstone
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.
14.8 mrow pitch at 70°
11.7 mrow pitch at 43°
How Johnstone 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.
772ndof 802 places in the United Kingdom for sunshine, shared: 2.48 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−11%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United Kingdom: 942 against 1,058 kWh per kWp.
+56 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with London: 17 h 35 min against 16 h 38 min.
43°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); Johnstone ranks joint 772nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.95 kWh a day here, against 1.32 kWh on average in the United Kingdom. The shortest day lasts 6 h 59 min, −50 min compared with London.
Solar forecast for Johnstone, 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 Johnstone
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Places near Johnstone
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A free, live card for Johnstone: 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.