Washington · United States · 46.25° N · 119.20° W
Solar position in Tri-Cities
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Tri-Cities — computed for 46.25° N, 119.20° W, 106 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Tri-Cities today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−7
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:46 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:20 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:55 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 07:26 | 106° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 08:08 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 12:40 | 31.8° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:12 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:54 | 253° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:25 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:00 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:34 | 18° below |
| Day length | 10 h 28 min | |
Sun path diagram for Tri-Cities
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 67.2° at solar noon in Tri-Cities; on the December solstice only 20.4°. Sunrise swings from 54° NE in June to 124° SE in December — a 70° 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 | 07:30 | 12:08 | 16:45 | 9 h 15 min | 24.0° |
| February | 06:49 | 12:10 | 17:31 | 10 h 42 min | 33.4° |
| March | 06:57 | 13:04 | 19:10 | 12 h 13 min | 44.3° |
| April | 05:59 | 12:55 | 19:52 | 13 h 53 min | 55.8° |
| May | 05:17 | 12:53 | 20:30 | 15 h 13 min | 64.1° |
| June | 05:04 | 12:58 | 20:52 | 15 h 47 min | 67.2° |
| July | 05:26 | 13:03 | 20:39 | 15 h 13 min | 64.1° |
| August | 06:03 | 12:59 | 19:55 | 13 h 52 min | 55.7° |
| September | 06:42 | 12:49 | 18:55 | 12 h 13 min | 44.2° |
| October | 07:22 | 12:41 | 17:59 | 10 h 37 min | 32.9° |
| November | 07:06 | 11:42 | 16:18 | 9 h 12 min | 23.7° |
| December | 07:36 | 11:55 | 16:13 | 8 h 36 min | 20.4° |
A year of daylight in Tri-Cities
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 Tri-Cities
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
36°collects the most energy over a year: 1509 kWh per kWp.
71°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° | 1257 | 83% | 0.80 | 7.7× |
| 15° | 1421 | 94% | 1.20 | 5.3× |
| 30° | 1502 | 99% | 1.53 | 4.0× |
| 36° year-round best | 1509 | 100% | 1.64 | 3.6× |
| 45° | 1494 | 99% | 1.77 | 3.2× |
| 46° = latitude | 1491 | 99% | 1.78 | 3.1× |
| 60° | 1401 | 93% | 1.91 | 2.6× |
| 70° | 1293 | 86% | 1.94 | 2.4× |
| 71° off-grid best | 1281 | 85% | 1.94 | 2.3× |
| 90° | 988 | 65% | 1.84 | 1.9× |
A fixed array in Tri-Cities produces the most over a year at 36°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 71° it makes 1.94 kWh per kWp a day, 18% more than at 36°, and costs 15% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Tri-Cities at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 36° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 36° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 1.25 | 2.38 | 2.14 | 1.87 | 0.1 °C |
| February | 2.32 | 3.68 | 3.29 | 3.14 | 2.0 °C |
| March | 3.61 | 4.29 | 3.78 | 4.04 | 6.0 °C |
| April | 5.31 | 4.82 | 4.20 | 5.11 | 9.6 °C |
| May | 6.41 | 4.58 | 3.89 | 5.39 | 14.9 °C |
| June | 7.19 | 4.46 | 3.73 | 5.58 | 18.7 °C |
| July | 7.68 | 4.92 | 4.04 | 5.94 | 23.5 °C |
| August | 6.42 | 5.26 | 4.34 | 5.62 | 22.8 °C |
| September | 4.74 | 5.40 | 4.56 | 5.04 | 17.7 °C |
| October | 2.98 | 4.57 | 3.97 | 3.86 | 10.6 °C |
| November | 1.58 | 2.96 | 2.63 | 2.35 | 4.2 °C |
| December snow | 1.02 | 2.16 | 1.94 | 1.64 | 0.0 °C |
| Year | 4.22 avg | 4.12 avg | 1293 kWh | 1509 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 610 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 720 Wp at 36°. The steep array is 16% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Tri-Cities
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.
6.8 mrow pitch at 70°
5.4 mrow pitch at 36°
How Tri-Cities 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.
1529thof 3,121 places in the United States for sunshine, shared: 4.22 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
±0%solar energy a year compared with the average place in the United States: 1,509 against 1,515 kWh per kWp.
+42 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with New York City: 15 h 47 min against 15 h 06 min.
36°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); Tri-Cities ranks joint 1529th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.94 kWh a day here, against 2.55 kWh on average in the United States. The shortest day lasts 8 h 36 min, −39 min compared with New York City.
Solar forecast for Tri-Cities, 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 Tri-Cities
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Places near Tri-Cities
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A free, live card for Tri-Cities: 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.