South Carolina · United States · 34.92° N · 81.03° W
Solar position in Rock Hill
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Rock Hill — computed for 34.92° N, 81.03° W, 207 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Rock Hill today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−4
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:13 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:42 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:12 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:37 | 104° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:12 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:08 | 43.2° high |
| Golden hour starts | 18:03 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:38 | 256° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:04 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:33 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:02 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 00 min | |
Sun path diagram for Rock Hill
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 78.5° at solar noon in Rock Hill; on the December solstice only 31.7°. Sunrise swings from 60° ENE in June to 118° ESE in December — a 58° 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 | 07:29 | 12:35 | 17:41 | 10 h 13 min | 35.3° |
| February | 07:03 | 12:37 | 18:12 | 11 h 10 min | 44.7° |
| March | 07:26 | 13:31 | 19:36 | 12 h 10 min | 55.5° |
| April | 06:44 | 13:22 | 20:01 | 13 h 17 min | 67.1° |
| May | 06:16 | 13:20 | 20:25 | 14 h 09 min | 75.4° |
| June | 06:10 | 13:25 | 20:41 | 14 h 30 min | 78.5° |
| July | 06:25 | 13:30 | 20:34 | 14 h 09 min | 75.4° |
| August | 06:48 | 13:27 | 20:04 | 13 h 16 min | 67.0° |
| September | 07:11 | 13:16 | 19:22 | 12 h 11 min | 55.6° |
| October | 07:35 | 13:08 | 18:41 | 11 h 07 min | 44.2° |
| November | 07:04 | 12:09 | 17:15 | 10 h 11 min | 35.1° |
| December | 07:28 | 12:22 | 17:16 | 9 h 48 min | 31.7° |
A year of daylight in Rock Hill
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 Rock Hill
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
32°collects the most energy over a year: 1540 kWh per kWp.
52°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° | 1336 | 87% | 1.93 | 2.7× |
| 15° | 1481 | 96% | 2.66 | 1.9× |
| 30° | 1539 | 100% | 3.23 | 1.5× |
| 32° year-round best | 1540 | 100% | 3.29 | 1.5× |
| 35° = latitude | 1539 | 100% | 3.37 | 1.4× |
| 45° | 1507 | 98% | 3.58 | 1.3× |
| 52° off-grid best | 1462 | 95% | 3.67 | 1.2× |
| 60° | 1388 | 90% | 3.71 | 1.3× |
| 70° | 1265 | 82% | 3.67 | 1.6× |
| 90° | 937 | 61% | 3.27 | 2.5× |
A fixed array in Rock Hill produces the most over a year at 32°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 52° it makes 3.67 kWh per kWp a day, 12% more than at 32°, and costs 5% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Rock Hill at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 32° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 32° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.71 | 4.51 | 4.01 | 3.68 | 4.4 °C |
| February | 3.34 | 4.32 | 3.81 | 3.90 | 6.3 °C |
| March | 4.40 | 4.37 | 3.79 | 4.42 | 10.6 °C |
| April | 5.59 | 4.10 | 3.48 | 4.83 | 15.8 °C |
| May | 6.06 | 3.52 | 2.91 | 4.66 | 20.7 °C |
| June | 6.41 | 3.29 | 2.67 | 4.63 | 25.2 °C |
| July | 6.09 | 3.36 | 2.70 | 4.46 | 26.9 °C |
| August | 5.51 | 3.69 | 2.99 | 4.37 | 26.3 °C |
| September | 4.76 | 4.19 | 3.46 | 4.30 | 22.8 °C |
| October | 3.86 | 4.68 | 3.97 | 4.21 | 16.7 °C |
| November | 2.99 | 4.76 | 4.14 | 3.88 | 10.4 °C |
| December | 2.36 | 4.15 | 3.67 | 3.29 | 6.4 °C |
| Year | 4.51 avg | 4.08 avg | 1265 kWh | 1540 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 440 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 360 Wp at 32°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Rock Hill
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.
4.1 mrow pitch at 70°
3.6 mrow pitch at 32°
How Rock Hill 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.
1236thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 4.51 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+2%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,540 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
−35 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 14 h 30 min against 15 h 06 min.
32°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); Rock Hill ranks joint 1236th. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.67 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 9 h 48 min, +33 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Rock Hill, 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 Rock Hill
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A free, live card for Rock Hill: 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.