When Does the Sun Hit Your Terrace? Understanding Building Shadows

The basics: how the sun moves

The sun rises in the east, climbs to its highest point around midday, and sets in the west. But this path isn't the same every day. In summer, the sun climbs much higher and takes a wider arc across the sky. In winter, it stays low and takes a shorter path. This is why your terrace might get 6 hours of sun in June but only 1 hour in December.

The sun's highest point (solar noon) isn't always at 12:00 PM clock time — depending on your location within your time zone and daylight saving time, it can be earlier or later. This matters when planning your terrace time.

Why tall buildings create long shadows

A building's shadow length depends on two things: the building's height and the sun's angle. When the sun is low (morning, evening, or winter), even a modest building can cast a shadow that stretches across an entire street. When the sun is high (midday in summer), the same building might only cast a short shadow at its base.

This is why ground-floor terraces in narrow streets between tall buildings might only get direct sunlight for a brief window each day — the sun has to climb high enough to peek over the buildings before it passes the other side.

The seasonal difference

In Northern Europe, the sun reaches about 60° above the horizon in midsummer but only about 15° in midwinter. That's a massive difference. A 20-meter building that casts a 10-meter shadow in June will cast a 75-meter shadow in December. This means many terraces that are gloriously sunny in summer become permanently shaded in winter.

This seasonal shift also means the direction of shadows changes. In summer, north-facing walls (in the Northern Hemisphere) can even get some direct morning and evening sun as the sun rises and sets far to the north. In winter, only south-facing spots have a real chance at sunshine.

How to predict your terrace's sunny moments

To know when your specific terrace will get sun, you need to account for all the buildings around it and the sun's position at different times. This is exactly what Coffee in the Sun does — it takes real building data and calculates shadows in real time, showing you a visual map of sunny and shaded areas.

With the Time Travel feature, you can scrub through the entire day (or any future day) to see exactly when sunlight reaches your terrace and when the shadows creep in. It takes the guesswork out of planning your time outdoors.