Skip to content

Tools

EN

Sunrise and Sunset in San José

Sunrise, sunset and twilight for San José, in local time. The longest day of the year runs 12 h 42 min, the shortest 11 h 33 min.

Sunrise

—

Sunset

—

Day length

—

Twilight

  • Astronomical dawn—
  • Nautical dawn—
  • Civil dawn—
  • Morning golden hour ends—
  • Solar noon—
  • Evening golden hour starts—
  • Civil dusk—
  • Nautical dusk—
  • Astronomical dusk—

The Sun over San José

San José sits at 9.93° north and 84.08° west, in the America/Costa_Rica time zone. Latitude is what sets how much the day length swings across the year: here the difference between the longest and shortest day is about 1 h 10 min.

The longest day falls around June 21 and the shortest around December 21 — the solstices. Between them the change is not steady: days lengthen fastest around the equinoxes in March and September, and barely move for a couple of weeks either side of each solstice, which is what "solstice" means — the Sun standing still.

Twilight matters more than people expect. Civil twilight is the stretch when there is still enough light to read outdoors; nautical twilight ends when the sea horizon disappears; after astronomical twilight the sky is dark enough for faint stars. In San José those three boundaries are listed above for whichever date you pick.

Frequently asked questions

What time does the sun rise in San José today?

The time above is computed for today in San José's own time zone, not in UTC, and it updates as the year moves. Pick another date to see any other day.

Why does sunset start getting later before the shortest day?

Because the clock and the Sun disagree. Earth's orbit is elliptical and its axis is tilted, so true solar noon drifts against noon on the clock by up to sixteen minutes over the year — the equation of time. Around the December solstice that drift shifts the earliest sunset a week or two away from the shortest day itself. The times above account for it.

How accurate are these times?

Within about a minute. They come from the NOAA solar algorithm, which derives from Meeus, and include the standard correction for atmospheric refraction and the Sun's apparent size — a sunrise is when the upper edge of the disc appears, not the centre. Local terrain can shift the visible sunrise by more than that: a mountain on the eastern horizon delays it.

Other tools