Ontario · Canada · 46.52° N · 84.33° W
Solar position in Sault Ste. Marie
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Sault Ste. Marie — computed for 46.52° N, 84.33° W, 186 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Sault Ste. Marie today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−4
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:26 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:01 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:36 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:07 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:50 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:21 | 31.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:52 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:34 | 253° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:05 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:40 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:15 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 27 min | |
Sun path diagram for Sault Ste. Marie
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 66.9° at solar noon in Sault Ste. Marie; on the December solstice only 20.1°. Sunrise swings from 54° NE in June to 124° SE in December — a 71° 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 | 08:12 | 12:48 | 17:25 | 9 h 13 min | 23.7° |
| February | 07:30 | 12:51 | 18:11 | 10 h 41 min | 33.1° |
| March | 07:38 | 13:44 | 19:51 | 12 h 13 min | 43.9° |
| April | 06:39 | 13:36 | 20:33 | 13 h 54 min | 55.5° |
| May | 05:56 | 13:34 | 21:11 | 15 h 15 min | 63.8° |
| June | 05:44 | 13:39 | 21:34 | 15 h 50 min | 66.9° |
| July | 06:05 | 13:43 | 21:21 | 15 h 16 min | 63.9° |
| August | 06:43 | 13:40 | 20:36 | 13 h 53 min | 55.4° |
| September | 07:23 | 13:30 | 19:36 | 12 h 14 min | 44.0° |
| October | 08:03 | 13:21 | 18:39 | 10 h 36 min | 32.6° |
| November | 07:47 | 12:23 | 16:58 | 9 h 10 min | 23.5° |
| December | 08:18 | 12:35 | 16:52 | 8 h 34 min | 20.1° |
A year of daylight in Sault Ste. Marie
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 Sault Ste. Marie
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
37°collects the most energy over a year: 1250 kWh per kWp.
74°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° | 1053 | 84% | 0.70 | 7.1× |
| 15° | 1180 | 94% | 1.02 | 5.0× |
| 30° | 1244 | 99% | 1.28 | 3.9× |
| 37° year-round best | 1250 | 100% | 1.39 | 3.5× |
| 45° | 1239 | 99% | 1.49 | 3.1× |
| 47° = latitude | 1234 | 99% | 1.51 | 3.0× |
| 60° | 1168 | 93% | 1.61 | 2.5× |
| 70° | 1087 | 87% | 1.65 | 2.4× |
| 74° off-grid best | 1047 | 84% | 1.65 | 2.3× |
| 90° | 855 | 68% | 1.60 | 2.2× |
A fixed array in Sault Ste. Marie produces the most over a year at 37°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 74° it makes 1.65 kWh per kWp a day, 19% more than at 37°, and costs 16% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Sault Ste. Marie at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 37° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 37° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 1.13 | 2.15 | 1.99 | 1.71 | -9.1 °C |
| February snow | 2.01 | 3.20 | 2.98 | 2.73 | -9.0 °C |
| March snow | 3.21 | 4.27 | 3.92 | 3.86 | -4.4 °C |
| April | 4.43 | 3.99 | 3.55 | 4.32 | 2.3 °C |
| May | 5.51 | 3.98 | 3.46 | 4.72 | 8.5 °C |
| June | 6.01 | 3.89 | 3.31 | 4.78 | 13.7 °C |
| July | 6.00 | 4.06 | 3.41 | 4.82 | 17.3 °C |
| August | 5.05 | 4.15 | 3.49 | 4.46 | 17.6 °C |
| September | 3.75 | 4.07 | 3.48 | 3.89 | 14.3 °C |
| October | 2.22 | 3.04 | 2.66 | 2.68 | 7.3 °C |
| November | 1.22 | 2.07 | 1.85 | 1.70 | 1.2 °C |
| December snow | 0.88 | 1.81 | 1.65 | 1.39 | -5.1 °C |
| Year | 3.46 avg | 3.39 avg | 1087 kWh | 1250 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 720 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 850 Wp at 37°. The steep array is 16% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Sault Ste. Marie
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.
6.9 mrow pitch at 70°
5.6 mrow pitch at 37°
How Sault Ste. Marie compares in Canada
Against the other 295 places in Canada with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
219thof 296 places in Canada for sunshine, shared: 3.46 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−3%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Canada: 1,250 against 1,292 kWh per kWp.
+23 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Toronto: 15 h 50 min against 15 h 27 min.
37°best year-round tilt here; across Canada it runs from 34° in Hamilton to 52° in Yellowknife.
Of the 296 places in Canada, Medicine Hat and one other place get the most sun (3.84 peak sun hours a day) and Terrace the least (2.57); Sault Ste. Marie ranks joint 219th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.65 kWh a day here, against 1.88 kWh on average in Canada. The shortest day lasts 8 h 34 min, −21 min compared with Toronto.
Solar forecast for Sault Ste. Marie, 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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A free, live card for Sault Ste. Marie: 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.