Sun Path: Athlone, Ireland

Direct answer

For Athlone at 53.4228, -7.9372, the declination-only solar-noon altitude is approximately 60.0° at the June solstice, 36.6° at an equinox and 13.1° at the December solstice. Refine these geometry checks with the project date, civil time, facade azimuth, terrain and local horizon. The reproducible location record is GeoNames ID 3313472 in administrative area L, at 53.4228, -7.9372; replace it with the surveyed parcel point before relying on the result. As a transparent geometry check, declination-only solar-noon altitude is about 60.0° at the June solstice, 36.6° at an equinox and 13.1° at the December solstice. Representative 21st-day geometry ranges from about 7.2 hours in December to 16.8 hours in June; this excludes atmospheric refraction, terrain and obstruction effects. The cited national authority is a discovery starting point; current local documents and a named qualified reviewer control project use of this sun path record.

Content and cited inputs reviewed by Scott Barrington, Harth founder and architectural technology specialist · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-08-31.

What must be verified for Athlone?

Athlone is represented here at approximately 53.4228, -7.9372 for discovery and workflow planning. A project address, parcel, elevation, exposure, authority, and submission date must replace that city-centre reference before design use.

How should sun path be established?

1. Fix the surveyed site and local time basis.
2. Select an authoritative weather source or a named solar-position algorithm.
3. Record period, percentile or scenario and units.
4. Test sensitivity to elevation, exposure, urban form and horizon.
5. Save the source file, retrieval date and checker in the model record.

What are the limits of this worksheet?

This sun-path-workflow page is a project-starting worksheet, not a design value or approval. The controlling authority and qualified professionals for the Athlone site remain authoritative.

Athlone monthly solar geometry check for sun path

Month-by-month geometry interpretation

• 21 January: approximate solar-noon altitude 16.4° (zenith angle 73.6°) and 8.1 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 February: approximate solar-noon altitude 25.4° (zenith angle 64.6°) and 9.9 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.9 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 March: approximate solar-noon altitude 36.2° (zenith angle 53.8°) and 11.9 hours of geometric daylight. That is 2.0 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 April: approximate solar-noon altitude 48.2° (zenith angle 41.8°) and 14.1 hours of geometric daylight. That is 2.2 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 May: approximate solar-noon altitude 56.7° (zenith angle 33.3°) and 15.9 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.8 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 June: approximate solar-noon altitude 60.0° (zenith angle 30.0°) and 16.8 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 July: approximate solar-noon altitude 57.0° (zenith angle 33.0°) and 16.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.7 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 August: approximate solar-noon altitude 48.3° (zenith angle 41.7°) and 14.2 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.8 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 September: approximate solar-noon altitude 36.4° (zenith angle 53.6°) and 12.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 2.2 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 October: approximate solar-noon altitude 24.8° (zenith angle 65.2°) and 9.8 hours of geometric daylight. That is 2.1 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 November: approximate solar-noon altitude 16.1° (zenith angle 73.9°) and 8.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.8 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 December: approximate solar-noon altitude 13.1° (zenith angle 76.9°) and 7.2 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.7 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.

Harth calculation for latitude 53.4228°: Cooper declination approximation, 90° - |latitude - declination| at solar noon, and centre-to-centre sunrise hour angle. See NOAA's solar calculation details for fuller method context. This screening table excludes equation-of-time/civil-time conversion, atmospheric refraction, terrain, facade azimuth and obstructions; it is not an hourly shading result.

Where can you explore related guidance?

• Explore all solar data guidance
• Sun Path: An Muileann gCearr, Ireland
• Sun Path: Portlaoise, Ireland
• Sun Path: Castletroy, Ireland
• Sun Path: Sligo, Ireland
• All solar & daylight data guidance for Ireland
• Climate Design Data: Athlone, Ireland
• House Construction Cost Planning: Athlone, Ireland
• Office Construction Cost Planning: Athlone, Ireland
• Retail Construction Cost Planning: Athlone, Ireland

Sources and method

Location data from the GeoNames IE dump (CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-08-31, GeoNames ID 3313472). Regulatory starting point: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the local building-control authority. Figures are illustrative — verify against the current locally adopted edition for the site. Solar-method context: NOAA Solar Calculation Details; the Harth monthly table uses a simpler declination and geometric-daylight approximation whose stated limitations must be retained.

Source links

• download.geonames.org

• gov.ie

• gml.noaa.gov