Solar Radiation Throughout the Day

[moulliet]

I have a personal weather station installed in rural Washington state.

I've noticed a pattern where the solar radiation doesn't follow a equal distribution between the morning and the afternoon.  On a clear day, I'd expect the radiation to be symmetrical around the solar noon.

 

For example, yesterday - https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KWASTEVE8#history/s20160511/e20160511/mdaily

The UV Index follows the symmetrical pattern I'd expect.

 

This is the PWS I'm using - http://www.ambientweather.com/amws1000wifi.html

I'm confident that my PWS is properly aligned North to South, and it is level.

 

Thanks for any ideas!

 

Cheers,

 

Greg

[WinterWxLuvr]

I have a personal weather station installed in rural Washington state.

I've noticed a pattern where the solar radiation doesn't follow a equal distribution between the morning and the afternoon. On a clear day, I'd expect the radiation to be symmetrical around the solar noon.

For example, yesterday - https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KWASTEVE8#history/s20160511/e20160511/mdaily

The UV Index follows the symmetrical pattern I'd expect.

This is the PWS I'm using - http://www.ambientweather.com/amws1000wifi.html

I'm confident that my PWS is properly aligned North to South, and it is level.

Thanks for any ideas!

Cheers,

Greg

I may not be on the same page as you on this one, but I'll chime in.

The path of the sun, graphed, won't produce a symmetrical parabola like you might think it would.

For instance, in my location on Dec. 21, it takes 4 hours 12 minutes for the sun to go from sunrise to its highest point in the sky, but it then takes it 4 hours 42 minutes to progress back down.

I don't know, but my guess is that this is affected by latitude and time from the equinoxes as well.