Texas · United States · 33.09° N · 96.89° W
Solar position in The Colony
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for The Colony — computed for 33.09° N, 96.89° W, 180 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in The Colony today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−5
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:16 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:44 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 07:13 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:39 | 104° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:13 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:11 | 45.0° high |
| Golden hour starts | 18:09 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 18:43 | 256° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 19:09 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:38 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:06 | 18° below |
| Day length | 11 h 05 min | |
Sun path diagram for The Colony
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 80.4° at solar noon in The Colony; on the December solstice only 33.5°. Sunrise swings from 61° ENE in June to 118° ESE in December — a 57° 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 | 07:28 | 12:39 | 17:49 | 10 h 20 min | 37.2° |
| February | 07:04 | 12:41 | 18:17 | 11 h 13 min | 46.6° |
| March | 07:29 | 13:34 | 19:39 | 12 h 10 min | 57.4° |
| April | 06:50 | 13:26 | 20:02 | 13 h 12 min | 69.0° |
| May | 06:24 | 13:24 | 20:24 | 14 h 00 min | 77.2° |
| June | 06:19 | 13:29 | 20:39 | 14 h 20 min | 80.4° |
| July | 06:33 | 13:33 | 20:34 | 14 h 01 min | 77.3° |
| August | 06:54 | 13:30 | 20:06 | 13 h 11 min | 68.8° |
| September | 07:15 | 13:20 | 19:25 | 12 h 10 min | 57.4° |
| October | 07:36 | 13:11 | 18:47 | 11 h 10 min | 46.0° |
| November | 07:03 | 12:13 | 17:22 | 10 h 19 min | 36.9° |
| December | 07:26 | 12:25 | 17:24 | 9 h 58 min | 33.5° |
A year of daylight in The Colony
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 The Colony
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
30°collects the most energy over a year: 1574 kWh per kWp.
48°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° | 1390 | 88% | 2.11 | 2.5× |
| 15° | 1527 | 97% | 2.87 | 1.8× |
| 30° year-round best | 1574 | 100% | 3.46 | 1.4× |
| 33° = latitude | 1572 | 100% | 3.55 | 1.3× |
| 45° | 1528 | 97% | 3.81 | 1.2× |
| 48° off-grid best | 1508 | 96% | 3.86 | 1.2× |
| 60° | 1393 | 89% | 3.93 | 1.3× |
| 70° | 1259 | 80% | 3.87 | 1.6× |
| 90° | 913 | 58% | 3.42 | 2.7× |
A fixed array in The Colony produces the most over a year at 30°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 48° it makes 3.86 kWh per kWp a day, 12% more than at 30°, and costs 4% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in The Colony at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 30° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 30° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.87 | 4.61 | 4.08 | 3.74 | 6.1 °C |
| February | 3.40 | 4.23 | 3.71 | 3.83 | 8.3 °C |
| March | 4.46 | 4.29 | 3.69 | 4.37 | 13.4 °C |
| April | 5.45 | 3.86 | 3.24 | 4.63 | 18.1 °C |
| May | 5.88 | 3.28 | 2.69 | 4.48 | 22.7 °C |
| June | 6.73 | 3.21 | 2.58 | 4.79 | 27.3 °C |
| July | 6.76 | 3.41 | 2.72 | 4.86 | 29.6 °C |
| August | 6.18 | 3.90 | 3.13 | 4.81 | 29.8 °C |
| September | 5.18 | 4.45 | 3.64 | 4.61 | 25.5 °C |
| October | 4.09 | 4.80 | 4.04 | 4.32 | 19.0 °C |
| November | 3.10 | 4.68 | 4.04 | 3.81 | 12.6 °C |
| December | 2.58 | 4.39 | 3.87 | 3.46 | 7.3 °C |
| Year | 4.73 avg | 4.09 avg | 1259 kWh | 1574 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 460 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 340 Wp at 30°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in The Colony
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.
3.9 mrow pitch at 70°
3.4 mrow pitch at 30°
How The Colony 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.
992ndof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 4.73 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+4%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,574 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
−45 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 14 h 20 min against 15 h 06 min.
30°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); The Colony ranks joint 992nd. In its darkest month, June, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.58 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 9 h 58 min, +43 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for The Colony, 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 The Colony
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Places near The Colony
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A free, live card for The Colony: 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.