Townsend, Montana Sunset Time Today
Townsend sunset and sunrise times, golden hour, blue hour, and how your daylight is changing
Townsend, MT · Sunset & sunrise today
Sunset today at 8:55 PM · Sunrise 6:09 AM
Sunset is at 8:55 PM — 14h 46m of daylight, −3m shorter than yesterday.
−3m shorter than yesterday
Tomorrow in Townsend · Mon, Aug 3
Sunrise tomorrow: 6:10 AM · Sunset tomorrow: 8:53 PM
Sunrise 1 minute later than today · sunset 2 minutes earlier than today
In Townsend, the sun rises at 6:10 AM tomorrow and sets at 8:53 PM.
Golden hour & blue hour today
Morning
Golden hour6:09 AM – 7:09 AM
Blue hour5:39 AM – 6:09 AM
Evening
Golden hour7:55 PM – 8:55 PM
Blue hour8:55 PM – 9:25 PM
Golden hour is the soft, warm light when the sun sits low — the hour after sunrise and before sunset. Blue hour is the cooler twilight that brackets it. Both windows are rules of thumb; they run longer at high latitudes and shorter near the equator.
Sunrise time in Townsend
The sun rises in Townsend at 6:09 AM today and at 6:10 AM tomorrow (1 minute later than today).
First light comes before the sun itself: civil twilight — the blue-hour glow already bright enough to see by — begins around 5:39 AM, roughly half an hour ahead of sunrise.
For photographers, the morning golden hour — the warm, low-angle light just after the sun clears the horizon — runs from about 6:09 AM to 7:09 AM.
Sunrise & sunset this week
| Day | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 6:09 AM | 8:55 PM | 14h 46m |
| Mon, Aug 3 | 6:10 AM | 8:53 PM | 14h 43m |
| Tue, Aug 4 | 6:11 AM | 8:52 PM | 14h 41m |
| Wed, Aug 5 | 6:13 AM | 8:51 PM | 14h 38m |
| Thu, Aug 6 | 6:14 AM | 8:49 PM | 14h 35m |
| Fri, Aug 7 | 6:15 AM | 8:48 PM | 14h 33m |
| Sat, Aug 8 | 6:16 AM | 8:46 PM | 14h 30m |
Townsend daylight month by month
Sunrise, sunset, and total daylight for the first of each month in 2026, computed from Townsend’s coordinates in local time. The line traces how the day stretches toward summer and contracts toward winter.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8:10 AM | 4:51 PM | 8h 41m |
| February | 7:50 AM | 5:31 PM | 9h 41m |
| March | 7:06 AM | 6:13 PM | 11h 6m |
| April | 7:06 AM | 7:55 PM | 12h 48m |
| May | 6:13 AM | 8:35 PM | 14h 22m |
| June | 5:39 AM | 9:11 PM | 15h 33m |
| July | 5:39 AM | 9:23 PM | 15h 44m |
| August | 6:08 AM | 8:58 PM | 14h 50m |
| September | 6:47 AM | 8:07 PM | 13h 20m |
| October | 7:25 AM | 7:08 PM | 11h 42m |
| November | 7:08 AM | 5:13 PM | 10h 5m |
| December | 7:50 AM | 4:43 PM | 8h 53m |
Townsend’s longest and shortest days
Townsend’s longest day falls on June 21, 2026 with 15h 48m of daylight; the shortest is December 21, 2026 with just 8h 36m. The two equinoxes, when day and night run nearly equal, sit in between.
| Solar landmark | Date | Daylight |
|---|---|---|
| Longest day (summer solstice) | June 21, 2026 | 15h 48m |
| Spring equinox | March 20, 2026 | 12h 9m |
| Fall equinox | September 22, 2026 | 12h 12m |
| Shortest day (winter solstice) | December 21, 2026 | 8h 36m |
How fast Townsend gains and loses daylight
The pace of change is not steady. Each month gains or loses a different amount, fastest around the equinoxes and nearly frozen at the solstices. The rate below is the daily change mid-month; the net is the full swing across the month.
| Month | Daily rate | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| January | gaining 1m 55s a day | +1h |
| February | gaining 3m 5s a day | +1h 25m |
| March | gaining 3m 19s a day | +1h 42m |
| April | gaining 3m 9s a day | +1h 34m |
| May | gaining 2m 24s a day | +1h 11m |
| June | gaining 28s a day | +11m |
| July | losing 1m 43s a day | −54m |
| August | losing 2m 55s a day | −1h 30m |
| September | losing 3m 15s a day | −1h 37m |
| October | losing 3m 11s a day | −1h 38m |
| November | losing 2m 30s a day | −1h 12m |
| December | losing 33s a day | −13m |
Townsend golden hour & blue hour by season
Golden hour is the warm, low-sun light; blue hour is the cooler twilight that brackets it. These windows come from Townsend’s true solar geometry — the sun’s altitude, not a fixed hour — so they stretch toward the solstices and run longer than the rule-of-thumb hour.
| Season | Morning gold | Morning blue | Evening gold | Evening blue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring equinox | 7:30 AM–8:10 AM | 7:00 AM–7:30 AM | 6:59 PM–7:39 PM | 7:39 PM–8:09 PM |
| Summer solstice | 5:35 AM–6:21 AM | 4:56 AM–5:35 AM | 8:36 PM–9:23 PM | 9:23 PM–10:02 PM |
| Fall equinox | 7:14 AM–7:53 AM | 6:44 AM–7:14 AM | 6:46 PM–7:26 PM | 7:26 PM–7:56 PM |
| Winter solstice | 8:07 AM–8:58 AM | 7:32 AM–8:07 AM | 3:52 PM–4:43 PM | 4:43 PM–5:18 PM |
Daylight saving time in Townsend
Townsend springs its clocks forward on Sunday, March 8, 2026 and falls back on Sunday, November 1, 2026. Between those dates the local clock runs an hour later, so sunrise and sunset both read later — though the amount of daylight is unchanged; only the label on the clock moves.
| Clock change | Date | UTC offset |
|---|---|---|
| Spring forward | Sunday, March 8, 2026 | UTC−6 |
| Fall back | Sunday, November 1, 2026 | UTC−7 |
Why sunset time shifts in Townsend
Sunset drifts through the year with Earth’s ~23.4° axial tilt — see the full daylight explainer.
In Townsend, the longest day carries about 15h 48m of daylight and the shortest just 8h 36m — a swing of roughly 7h 12m between the June and December solstices. The farther a place sits from the equator, the wider that gap; the pace also isn’t steady, moving fastest near the equinoxes and barely at all near the solstices. Every figure here is computed from the sun’s position for Townsend’s exact coordinates, in local time.
Golden-hour gear
- Manfrotto Befree Advanced Travel Tripod
A compact carbon-light travel tripod that folds to packbag size. Golden- and blue-hour light is dim enough that handheld shots blur — a tripod is the single biggest upgrade to sunset photos.
- K&F Concept Graduated ND & ND Filter Kit
Graduated neutral-density filters darken a bright sky without underexposing the foreground — the classic fix for a blown-out sunset horizon over a dark landscape.
- MagicFiber Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloths (6-Pack)
Sea spray, dew, and fingerprints scatter low-angle sunset light into ugly flare. A clean front element is free image quality — keep a cloth in the bag.
- Nikon Aculon A211 10x42 Compact Binoculars
Bright 10x42 optics for watching the sun touch a far ridgeline or horizon, and for the planets and first stars that emerge through the blue hour.
- Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light Sunrise Alarm
A sunrise-simulating alarm that brightens gradually before your set time — useful for catching an early sunrise shoot, and for resetting your clock as daylight shifts through the year.
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Frequently asked
- What time is sunset in Townsend today?
- Today's sunset time for Townsend is shown at the top of this page in local time, updated daily from astronomical sun-position data. Sunset is the moment the upper edge of the sun dips below the horizon; the warm light lingers for a golden hour beforehand and a blue hour just after.
- When is golden hour in Townsend?
- Golden hour in Townsend is roughly the hour just after sunrise and the hour just before sunset, when the sun sits low and the light turns warm and soft — the favorite window for photographers. The exact start and end times for today are listed above; the window is shorter near the equator and longer at high latitudes. On Townsend's longest day near the June solstice it stretches to about 15h 48m of daylight, so the golden hours run longest then.
- What time is sunrise in Townsend?
- Today's sunrise time for Townsend is listed above in local time. Sunrise is the moment the upper edge of the sun first appears over the horizon. Because Earth's tilt changes the sun's path through the year, sunrise drifts earlier through spring and later through autumn.
- Is the day getting longer or shorter in Townsend?
- The day-length change for Townsend — how many minutes and seconds of daylight you're gaining or losing compared with yesterday — is shown above. Days lengthen from the winter solstice in late December to the summer solstice in late June, then shorten again through to December.
More for Townsend
See the full Townsend, MT weather forecast — hour-by-hour outlook, NOAA radar, satellite, and air quality.