Times For Sunrise And Sunset In Somalia

Average length of day in Mogadishu

sunshine duration twilight phase

Sunrise and sunset in the most important cities of Somalia

The cities are ordered by their geographic position from east to west, so in an approximate direction of the sun's course. Since the orbit around the sun is elliptical, sunrise or sunset never happen on a whole longitude at the same time. All data given for February 14th., localtime in Somalia

City	Sunrise	Sunset	Hours of daylight	Solar noon
Bosaso	06:03 am	05:51 pm	11:48 h	11:57 am
Garoowe	06:03 am	05:56 pm	11:54 h	12:00 pm
Gaalkacyo	06:06 am	06:02 pm	11:57 h	12:04 pm
Laascaanood	06:07 am	06:01 pm	11:53 h	12:04 pm
Burao	06:16 am	06:07 pm	11:51 h	12:12 pm
Mogadishu	06:10 am	06:15 pm	12:05 h	12:12 pm
Beledweyne	06:13 am	06:13 pm	12:00 h	12:13 pm
Afgooye	06:11 am	06:16 pm	12:05 h	12:13 pm
Berbera	06:19 am	06:08 pm	11:50 h	12:14 pm
Merca	06:12 am	06:18 pm	12:06 h	12:15 pm
Qoryooley	06:13 am	06:18 pm	12:06 h	12:16 pm
Hargeysa	06:22 am	06:13 pm	11:51 h	12:17 pm
Baidoa	06:17 am	06:21 pm	12:03 h	12:19 pm
Jamaame	06:18 am	06:27 pm	12:09 h	12:23 pm
Kismayo	06:19 am	06:28 pm	12:10 h	12:23 pm

Sunrise and sunset by month for Mogadishu

Month	Sunrise	Sunset	Hours of daylight	Solar noon
January	06:06 am	06:09 pm	12:03 h	12:07 pm
February	06:10 am	06:15 pm	12:05 h	12:12 pm
March	06:03 am	06:11 pm	12:08 h	12:07 pm
April	05:52 am	06:04 pm	12:12 h	11:58 am
May	05:47 am	06:02 pm	12:15 h	11:54 am
June	05:50 am	06:07 pm	12:17 h	11:59 am
July	05:56 am	06:12 pm	12:16 h	12:04 pm
August	05:56 am	06:09 pm	12:13 h	12:03 pm
September	05:49 am	05:58 pm	12:10 h	11:53 am
October	05:41 am	05:47 pm	12:06 h	11:44 am
November	05:41 am	05:45 pm	12:04 h	11:43 am
December	05:52 am	05:54 pm	12:03 h	11:53 am

Duration of the sunset

The distance from the equator and the path of the sun determines not only the time of sunrise and sunset. The farther a country is from the equator, the more oblique the sun's path is to the horizon, causing sunset to last for a different duration. Mogadishu lies on the 2nd degree of northern latitude and thus very close to the equator. While a sunset in the northern USA or central Europe can take almost an hour, in Somalia, it lasts only an average of 24 minutes. Somalia is so close to the equator that there is no noticeable difference even between June and December.

The sun between the tropics

The capital Mogadishu is located at 2 degrees north latitude and therefore also between the tropics. The sun swings back and forth between them over the course of the year. At the solstice on June 21, it is perpendicular above the northern tropic, and on December 21 above the southern tropic. If a country like Somalia lies between these tropics, the sun crosses its latitude twice a year and then shines vertically from above. For Mogadishu, this is on March 26th and September 18th. In between, the sun shines from the north, otherwise from the south. In Kismayo, around 410 km away, it is March 20th and September 24th.

Unlike in countries that are far away from the equator, the angle of the sun is quite large here. The sun is much higher in the sky at midday and therefore shines with a high intensity. It has the smallest angle, i.e. the smallest distance from the horizon, at the winter solstice on December 22nd. Then, even at midday, it is only 64.5 degrees above the southern horizon. For comparison: in New York, the sun only reaches an angle of 73 degrees at the height of summer.

Actual hours of sunshine

The period from sunrise to sunset is the astronomical length of the day. It is therefore independent of whether you can actually see the sun. In addition, significant deviations can be perceived depending on cloud cover or other visual obstructions. For the Mogadishu resp. Banaadir region, we have shown the approximate sunshine duration in the graph here.

In June, the sun shines for around 7:18 hours a day. In contrast, the day is 12:17 hours long. This means that the visual obstruction is around 4:59 hours per day. In December, on the other hand, it is 3:45 of 12:03 hours.

International cities for comparison

City	Sunrise	Sunset	Hours of daylight	Solar noon
Berlin (Germany)	07:22 am	05:18 pm	9:56 h	12:20 pm
New York (USA)	06:49 am	05:30 pm	10:42 h	12:10 pm
Sydney (Australia)	06:27 am	07:50 pm	13:23 h	01:09 pm
Manila (Philippines)	06:19 am	06:01 pm	11:42 h	12:10 pm
Moscow (Russia)	07:54 am	05:33 pm	9:39 h	12:43 pm
Shanghai (China)	06:35 am	05:41 pm	11:06 h	12:08 pm
Helsinki (Finland)	07:59 am	05:09 pm	9:11 h	12:34 pm