California · United States · 36.07° N · 119.02° W
Solar position in Porterville
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Porterville — computed for 36.07° N, 119.02° W, 140 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Porterville today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−7
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:45 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:15 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:45 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:11 | 104° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:46 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:40 | 42.0° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:33 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:08 | 256° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:34 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:04 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:34 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 57 min | |
Sun path diagram for Porterville
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 77.4° at solar noon in Porterville; on the December solstice only 30.5°. Sunrise swings from 60° ENE in June to 119° ESE in December — a 59° 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 | 07:03 | 12:07 | 17:11 | 10 h 08 min | 34.2° |
| February | 06:36 | 12:09 | 17:43 | 11 h 07 min | 43.6° |
| March | 06:57 | 13:03 | 19:08 | 12 h 11 min | 54.4° |
| April | 06:14 | 12:54 | 19:35 | 13 h 20 min | 66.0° |
| May | 05:45 | 12:52 | 20:00 | 14 h 14 min | 74.3° |
| June | 05:39 | 12:57 | 20:16 | 14 h 37 min | 77.4° |
| July | 05:55 | 13:02 | 20:09 | 14 h 14 min | 74.3° |
| August | 06:19 | 12:59 | 19:38 | 13 h 19 min | 65.8° |
| September | 06:43 | 12:48 | 18:54 | 12 h 11 min | 54.4° |
| October | 07:08 | 12:40 | 18:12 | 11 h 04 min | 43.0° |
| November | 06:38 | 11:41 | 16:44 | 10 h 06 min | 33.9° |
| December | 07:03 | 11:54 | 16:45 | 9 h 42 min | 30.5° |
A year of daylight in Porterville
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 Porterville
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
31°collects the most energy over a year: 1874 kWh per kWp.
61°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° | 1632 | 87% | 1.98 | 3.4× |
| 15° | 1808 | 97% | 2.77 | 2.4× |
| 30° | 1873 | 100% | 3.38 | 1.8× |
| 31° year-round best | 1874 | 100% | 3.41 | 1.8× |
| 36° = latitude | 1868 | 100% | 3.57 | 1.6× |
| 45° | 1825 | 97% | 3.77 | 1.5× |
| 60° | 1668 | 89% | 3.93 | 1.4× |
| 61° off-grid best | 1654 | 88% | 3.93 | 1.4× |
| 70° | 1509 | 81% | 3.89 | 1.6× |
| 90° | 1088 | 58% | 3.49 | 2.9× |
A fixed array in Porterville produces the most over a year at 31°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 61° it makes 3.93 kWh per kWp a day, 15% more than at 31°, and costs 12% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Porterville at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 31° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 31° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.68 | 4.53 | 3.99 | 3.61 | 6.7 °C |
| February | 3.68 | 5.02 | 4.42 | 4.40 | 7.4 °C |
| March | 5.09 | 5.30 | 4.61 | 5.27 | 9.9 °C |
| April | 6.43 | 4.81 | 4.14 | 5.73 | 12.5 °C |
| May | 7.57 | 4.19 | 3.53 | 5.90 | 17.3 °C |
| June | 8.46 | 3.86 | 3.18 | 6.03 | 22.6 °C |
| July | 8.04 | 3.99 | 3.24 | 5.81 | 26.4 °C |
| August | 7.46 | 4.84 | 3.95 | 5.98 | 25.4 °C |
| September | 6.22 | 5.83 | 4.82 | 5.88 | 22.4 °C |
| October | 4.63 | 6.06 | 5.14 | 5.26 | 16.5 °C |
| November | 3.22 | 5.44 | 4.72 | 4.30 | 10.7 °C |
| December | 2.43 | 4.41 | 3.89 | 3.41 | 6.3 °C |
| Year | 5.50 avg | 4.85 avg | 1509 kWh | 1874 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 370 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 350 Wp at 31°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Porterville
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.
4.3 mrow pitch at 70°
3.7 mrow pitch at 31°
How Porterville 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.
216thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 5.50 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+24%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,874 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
−29 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 14 h 37 min against 15 h 06 min.
31°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); Porterville ranks joint 216th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 3.18 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 9 h 42 min, +27 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Porterville, 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 Porterville
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A free, live card for Porterville: 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.