Sunset and sunrise times in Mwanza, Tanzania

Sitting on the western side of its time zone puts solar noon at 12:50, a full 51 minutes after twelve o'clock, and drags the whole day — sunrise, noon and sunset — along with it.

From sunset to full civil darkness is 21 minutes here, against a 24-minute median elsewhere today. Latitude 2.5°S accounts for the 3-minute difference.

Summer and winter days differ by 17m here, less seasonal variation than almost anywhere else in Tanzania we track.

The sun does not set in the same place twice: the December solstice puts it WSW, June swings it 47° round to WNW. Tonight, W.

Being inside the tropics means two zenith passages a year, 14 March and 30 September, when the sun is straight up at solar noon rather than merely high. The next one is in 5 weeks.

Sunset lands at close to the same time all year — the annual spread in day length is only 17 minutes, compared with about 8.8 hours at London's latitude.

Elevation matters at 1,144 m. The visible horizon drops 1.17°, pushing sunset 4.8 minutes later and sunrise the same amount earlier than a sea-level observer would see.

The times barely move this week: the shortest day of the year falls on 21 June, 2 months ago, so day length is changing by under a minute a day. Sunset shifts just 4 minutes earlier over the next fortnight.