Northwest Territories · Canada · 62.45° N · 114.37° W
Solar position in Yellowknife
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Yellowknife — computed for 62.45° N, 114.37° W, 252 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Yellowknife today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−6
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 06:16 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 07:08 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 08:01 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 08:48 | 115° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 09:59 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:21 | 15.6° high |
| Golden hour starts | 16:42 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:53 | 245° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:40 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 19:33 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 20:25 | 18° below |
| Day length | 9 h 04 min | |
Sun path diagram for Yellowknife
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 51.0° at solar noon in Yellowknife; on the December solstice only 4.3°. Sunrise swings from 27° NNE in June to 146° SSE in December — a 119° 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 | 09:33 | 12:49 | 16:05 | 6 h 32 min | 7.9° |
| February | 08:05 | 12:51 | 17:37 | 9 h 32 min | 17.3° |
| March | 07:34 | 13:45 | 19:56 | 12 h 22 min | 28.1° |
| April | 05:52 | 13:36 | 21:21 | 15 h 30 min | 39.6° |
| May | 04:23 | 13:34 | 22:47 | 18 h 24 min | 47.9° |
| June | 03:39 | 13:39 | 23:39 | 20 h 00 min | 51.0° |
| July | 04:30 | 13:43 | 22:55 | 18 h 25 min | 47.9° |
| August | 05:56 | 13:40 | 21:22 | 15 h 27 min | 39.5° |
| September | 07:19 | 13:29 | 19:40 | 12 h 21 min | 28.0° |
| October | 08:40 | 13:21 | 18:02 | 9 h 22 min | 16.7° |
| November | 09:10 | 12:23 | 15:36 | 6 h 26 min | 7.6° |
| December | 10:07 | 12:35 | 15:04 | 4 h 57 min | 4.3° |
A year of daylight in Yellowknife
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 Yellowknife
Fixed array facing south (azimuth 180°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
52°collects the most energy over a year: 1216 kWh per kWp.
87°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° | 845 | 69% | 0.06 | 78.3× |
| 15° | 1023 | 84% | 0.24 | 22.7× |
| 30° | 1148 | 94% | 0.41 | 13.7× |
| 45° | 1210 | 99% | 0.55 | 10.6× |
| 52° year-round best | 1216 | 100% | 0.61 | 9.7× |
| 60° | 1206 | 99% | 0.66 | 8.9× |
| 62° = latitude | 1200 | 99% | 0.67 | 8.8× |
| 70° | 1167 | 96% | 0.71 | 8.2× |
| 87° off-grid best | 1038 | 85% | 0.74 | 7.1× |
| 90° | 1008 | 83% | 0.74 | 7.0× |
A fixed array in Yellowknife produces the most over a year at 52°. The design month for an off-grid system is December: at 87° it makes 0.74 kWh per kWp a day, 22% more than at 52°, and costs 15% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Yellowknife at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 52° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 52° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January snow | 0.25 | 1.50 | 1.48 | 1.28 | -29.3 °C |
| February snow | 1.00 | 3.01 | 2.98 | 2.72 | -26.3 °C |
| March snow | 2.67 | 5.44 | 5.25 | 5.03 | -18.3 °C |
| April snow | 4.56 | 6.29 | 5.81 | 5.92 | -6.2 °C |
| May | 5.72 | 5.30 | 4.67 | 5.32 | 5.9 °C |
| June | 6.06 | 5.00 | 4.24 | 4.98 | 14.4 °C |
| July | 5.30 | 4.58 | 3.84 | 4.45 | 17.4 °C |
| August | 4.03 | 4.24 | 3.60 | 3.98 | 14.4 °C |
| September | 2.48 | 3.54 | 3.10 | 3.19 | 7.1 °C |
| October snow | 0.99 | 1.96 | 1.77 | 1.67 | -4.3 °C |
| November snow | 0.31 | 0.99 | 0.94 | 0.84 | -20.2 °C |
| December snow | 0.11 | 0.74 | 0.71 | 0.61 | -26.9 °C |
| Year | 2.80 avg | 3.55 avg | 1167 kWh | 1216 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 1,660 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 1,930 Wp at 52°. The steep array is 14% smaller for the same winter. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Yellowknife
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.
—The winter sun stays too low for rows to be shade-free; use a single row.
How Yellowknife compares in Canada
Against the other 295 places in Canada with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
294thof 296 places in Canada for sunshine: 2.80 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−6%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Canada: 1,216 against 1,292 kWh per kWp.
+4 h 32 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Toronto: 20 h 00 min against 15 h 27 min.
52°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); Yellowknife ranks 294th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 0.71 kWh a day here, against 1.88 kWh on average in Canada. The shortest day lasts 4 h 57 min, −3 h 58 min compared with Toronto.
Solar forecast for Yellowknife, 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 Yellowknife
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A free, live card for Yellowknife: 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.