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Golden Hour in West Raleigh, NC

Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for West Raleigh, NC. Select a date to view the calculated light times.

The month-by-month table below is in this city's own local time. The live times above follow your device's timezone. Mountains, ridgelines and buildings can shorten the usable window — scout your horizon.

Photography planning

Terrain, buildings and weather can affect visible light. Check the horizon and conditions at the selected location.

In West Raleigh, sunset ranges from 5:00 PM in December to 8:34 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for West Raleigh's coordinates (35.7868, -78.6639) and shown in America/New_York.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in West Raleigh by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:23 AM5:24 PM4:46 PM – 5:24 PM38 min10h 01m
February7:01 AM5:56 PM5:21 PM – 5:56 PM35 min10h 55m
March7:25 AM7:22 PM6:48 PM – 7:22 PM34 min11h 57m
April6:41 AM7:48 PM7:13 PM – 7:48 PM35 min13h 06m
May6:09 AM8:13 PM7:36 PM – 8:13 PM37 min14h 04m
June5:58 AM8:32 PM7:54 PM – 8:32 PM38 min14h 34m
July6:10 AM8:30 PM7:53 PM – 8:30 PM37 min14h 21m
August6:33 AM8:04 PM7:29 PM – 8:04 PM35 min13h 31m
September6:57 AM7:21 PM6:48 PM – 7:21 PM33 min12h 24m
October7:21 AM6:38 PM6:04 PM – 6:38 PM34 min11h 18m
November6:50 AM5:07 PM4:30 PM – 5:07 PM37 min10h 17m
December7:17 AM5:02 PM4:22 PM – 5:02 PM40 min9h 45m

How the light changes through the year in West Raleigh

Golden hour is not the same length all year in West Raleigh. It is longest in December at about 40 minutes and shortest in September at about 33 minutes — a difference of 7 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

West Raleigh gets 4h 49m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 5:02 PM in December to 8:32 PM in June, so an evening shoot that works in summer will be shooting in the dark at the same clock time in winter.

Blue hour follows sunset and is worth planning for separately: in June it runs until about 9:02 PM, and in December until about 5:30 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 5:00 PM on December 2
  • Latest sunset: 8:34 PM on June 21
  • Longest day: 14h 35m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 44m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 38 minutes in June, 40 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/New_York

What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the period near sunrise and sunset when the sun is low. Blue hour occurs before sunrise and after sunset. Calculated times vary with location and date; weather, terrain and buildings can affect visible light.

Photography services

Kanyon Studio provides photography and video in San Diego. Location, lighting and scheduling are agreed for each shoot.