Sun Path: East London, South Africa

Direct answer

For East London at -33.0153, 27.9116, the declination-only solar-noon altitude is approximately 33.5° at the June solstice, 57.0° at an equinox and 80.4° 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 1006984 in administrative area 05, at -33.0153, 27.9116; replace it with the surveyed parcel point before relying on the result. As a transparent geometry check, declination-only solar-noon altitude is about 33.5° at the June solstice, 57.0° at an equinox and 80.4° at the December solstice. Representative 21st-day geometry ranges from about 9.8 hours in June to 14.2 hours in December; 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.

Prepared by Harth · Prepared from the cited location and country sources; local project inputs remain unreviewed · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-08-31.

What must be verified for East London?

East London is represented here at approximately -33.0153, 27.9116 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 East London site remain authoritative.

Which related searches does this primary location record cover?

This primary route consolidates the location evidence needed for Sun Path, Solar Altitude & Azimuth, Solar Shading Design, Daylight & Orientation. A narrower route should be released only when it adds a materially different official source, calculation, process, threshold or worked example.

East London monthly solar geometry check for sun path

Month-by-month geometry interpretation

• 21 January: approximate solar-noon altitude 77.1° (zenith angle 12.9°) and 13.8 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.3 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 February: approximate solar-noon altitude 68.2° (zenith angle 21.8°) and 13.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 March: approximate solar-noon altitude 57.4° (zenith angle 32.6°) and 12.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.0 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 April: approximate solar-noon altitude 45.4° (zenith angle 44.6°) and 11.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.1 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 May: approximate solar-noon altitude 36.8° (zenith angle 53.2°) and 10.2 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 June: approximate solar-noon altitude 33.5° (zenith angle 56.5°) and 9.8 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.3 hours shorter than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 July: approximate solar-noon altitude 36.5° (zenith angle 53.5°) and 10.1 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.3 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 August: approximate solar-noon altitude 45.2° (zenith angle 44.8°) and 11.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 September: approximate solar-noon altitude 57.2° (zenith angle 32.8°) and 12.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.1 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 October: approximate solar-noon altitude 68.7° (zenith angle 21.3°) and 13.0 hours of geometric daylight. That is 1.0 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 November: approximate solar-noon altitude 77.4° (zenith angle 12.6°) and 13.9 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.8 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.
• 21 December: approximate solar-noon altitude 80.4° (zenith angle 9.6°) and 14.2 hours of geometric daylight. That is 0.3 hours longer than the preceding representative date in this annual sequence.

Harth calculation for latitude -33.0153°: 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: Mdantsane, South Africa
• Sun Path: Mthatha, South Africa
• Sun Path: Kariega, South Africa
• Sun Path: Botshabelo, South Africa

Sources and method

Location data from the GeoNames ZA dump (CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-08-31, GeoNames ID 1006984). Regulatory starting point: South African Bureau of Standards and the local 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

• sabs.co.za

• gml.noaa.gov