Northern Region · Malawi · 9.93° S · 33.93° E
Solar position in Karonga
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Karonga — computed for 9.93° S, 33.93° E, 486 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Karonga today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC+2
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:04 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:30 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 04:55 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:16 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 05:45 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:28 | 88.1° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:12 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:40 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:01 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:26 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 18:52 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 24 min | |
Sun path diagram for Karonga
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 56.6° at solar noon in Karonga; on the December solstice only 76.5°. Sunrise swings from 66° ENE in June to 114° ESE in December — a 48° 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 | 05:37 | 11:55 | 18:13 | 12 h 36 min | 80.1° |
| February | 05:46 | 11:57 | 18:08 | 12 h 22 min | 89.4° |
| March | 05:48 | 11:51 | 17:54 | 12 h 06 min | 79.8° |
| April | 05:47 | 11:42 | 17:37 | 11 h 50 min | 68.1° |
| May | 05:51 | 11:40 | 17:29 | 11 h 38 min | 59.8° |
| June | 05:59 | 11:46 | 17:32 | 11 h 33 min | 56.6° |
| July | 06:02 | 11:50 | 17:39 | 11 h 37 min | 59.6° |
| August | 05:52 | 11:47 | 17:42 | 11 h 50 min | 68.0° |
| September | 05:34 | 11:37 | 17:40 | 12 h 06 min | 79.4° |
| October | 05:17 | 11:28 | 17:40 | 12 h 22 min | 89.2° |
| November | 05:11 | 11:30 | 17:48 | 12 h 36 min | 80.0° |
| December | 05:21 | 11:42 | 18:03 | 12 h 42 min | 76.5° |
A year of daylight in Karonga
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 Karonga
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
12°collects the most energy over a year: 1656 kWh per kWp.
0°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 | January kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° off-grid best | 1624 | 98% | 4.03 | 1.3× |
| 10° = latitude | 1654 | 100% | 3.86 | 1.4× |
| 12° year-round best | 1656 | 100% | 3.81 | 1.4× |
| 15° | 1654 | 100% | 3.74 | 1.4× |
| 30° | 1590 | 96% | 3.26 | 1.6× |
| 45° | 1437 | 87% | 2.62 | 1.9× |
| 60° | 1207 | 73% | 1.90 | 2.6× |
| 70° | 1024 | 62% | 1.44 | 3.3× |
| 90° | 689 | 42% | 1.14 | 3.5× |
A fixed array in Karonga produces the most over a year at 12°. The design month for an off-grid system is January: at 0° it makes 4.03 kWh per kWp a day, 6% more than at 12°, and costs 2% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Karonga at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 12° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 12° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.99 | 1.79 | 1.44 | 3.81 | 22.0 °C |
| February | 5.24 | 2.23 | 1.81 | 4.11 | 22.0 °C |
| March | 5.23 | 2.95 | 2.43 | 4.25 | 21.8 °C |
| April | 4.98 | 3.69 | 3.07 | 4.23 | 21.0 °C |
| May | 4.99 | 4.64 | 3.89 | 4.45 | 19.5 °C |
| June | 4.95 | 5.19 | 4.39 | 4.56 | 17.9 °C |
| July | 5.08 | 5.11 | 4.32 | 4.64 | 17.7 °C |
| August | 5.74 | 4.83 | 4.05 | 5.04 | 19.7 °C |
| September | 6.44 | 3.95 | 3.27 | 5.34 | 22.4 °C |
| October | 6.68 | 2.69 | 2.18 | 5.23 | 24.6 °C |
| November | 6.28 | 1.80 | 1.43 | 4.72 | 25.1 °C |
| December | 5.38 | 1.66 | 1.32 | 4.04 | 23.2 °C |
| Year | 5.50 avg | 3.38 avg | 1024 kWh | 1656 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 890 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 310 Wp at 12°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Karonga
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.
2.1 mrow pitch at 70°
2.3 mrow pitch at 12°
How Karonga compares in Malawi
Against the other 22 places in Malawi with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
22ndof 23 places in Malawi for sunshine, shared: 5.50 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Malawi: 1,656 against 1,699 kWh per kWp.
−15 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Lilongwe: 12 h 42 min against 12 h 57 min.
12°best year-round tilt here; across Malawi it runs from 12° in Karonga to 17° in Blantyre.
Of the 23 places in Malawi, Salima gets the most sun (5.72 peak sun hours a day) and Karonga and one other place the least (5.50); Karonga ranks joint 22nd. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.32 kWh a day here, against 1.48 kWh on average in Malawi. The shortest day lasts 11 h 33 min, +15 min compared with Lilongwe.
Solar forecast for Karonga, 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 Karonga
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A free, live card for Karonga: 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.