SOLAR ELEVATION AND AZIMUTH ANGLES

For the 2006 winter solstice at For San Francisco, CA

Latitude 37 degrees, 46 minutes / Longitude 122 degrees, 25 minutes

December	Elevation at Noon				Sun Rise Azimuth					Sun Set Azimuth
	Degree	Min	Delta		Hr:Min:Sec	Degree	Min	Delta		Hr:Min:Sec	Degree	Min	Delta
18	28	50.4			07:21:20	119	38.4			16:51:26	240	19.8
19	28	48.6	-1.8		07:21:55	119	40.2	+1.6		16:51:50	240	18.6	-1.2
20	28	48.0	-0.6		07:22:28	119	41.4	+1.2		16:52:20	240	18.0	-0.6
21	28	47.4	-0.6		07:22:58	119	42.0	+0.8		16:52:47	240	17.4	-0.6
22	28	47.1	-0.3		07:23:30	119	42.0	0.0		16:53:20	240	18.0	+0.6
23	28	47.4	+0.3		07:23:55	119	41.4	-0.6		16:53:49	240	18.6	+0.6
24	28	48.6	+0.2		07:24:20	119	39.6	-0.8		16:54:24	240	19.8	+1.2
25	28	49.8	+0.2		07:24:45	119	37.8	-1.8		16:55:00	240	22.2	+2.4

Elevation = angular degrees/minutes above the horizon at 12:00 noon.

Azimuth = the angular degrees/minutes from North measured in a clockwise direction.

Note that the exact time of the solstice is at 22 minutes after mid-night on the morning of December 22, Grenwich Mean Time. This is 4:22 pm December 21 in San Francisco time. This exact time is closer to the sunrise in San Francisco on December 22 than it is to the sunrise in San Francisco on December 21, causing the solstice as determined by the sun rise to appear to occur on the 22nd rather than the 21st. However, the sunrise date shows that it could be either day, which is well within the accuracy of the data. The sunset data, where the time of sunset is very close to the actual time of the solstice does show the solstice to occur on the 21st. The elevation at noon data shows the solstice occuring on the 22nd, since the time from the actual time to noon on the 22nd is less than the time to noon on the 21st.

(Data courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Solar Position Calculator.)