Golden hour in San Jose in May

San Jose lies at 9.93° N, in the equatorial belt, where day length barely moves across the year. Its longest measured day falls on Thu 18 June 2026 with 12h 42m of daylight, and its shortest on Fri 18 December 2026 with 11h 33m — a difference of 1h 09m between the two extremes.

Evening golden hour in San Jose runs for roughly 30 minutes at the height of summer, 28 minutes around the March equinox and 30 minutes at midwinter. The warm window is at its most generous in summer, so summer shoots allow more time to work a location.

The sun sets toward 294° WNW in late June and toward 246° WSW in late December, a shift of about 48° in where the last light lands — worth checking before committing to a west-facing viewpoint. In San Jose, the sky reaches full darkness between evening and morning twilight year-round.