Sunrise, brahma muhurta and the lunar day in San Diego

California, United States · 32.72°, -117.16° · America/Los Angeles

Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 21 September 2026

Friday, November 6, 2026

Brahma muhurta

4:35 AM – 5:23 AM

Sunrise

6:11 AM

Sunset

4:55 PM

Daylight

10h 43m

Lunar day (tithi)

Trayodashi

Fortnight

Waning (krishna)

Moon

Waning crescent · 7% lit

Nakshatra

Hasta

At 32.7° north, San Diego has the mildest seasonal sunrise drift of the large West Coast cities.

San Diego's mild, dry-summer climate and closeness to the coast make it one of the most consistently comfortable cities on this list for an outdoor or window-open early practice, with little of the temperature swing that disrupts a routine further inland or further north. The coastal marine layer, much like in San Francisco, can keep mornings grey and cool even when the interior of the city is already warming, so practitioners near the beach often dress differently for the same pre-dawn hour than those a few miles inland. The city has a long-standing surf and outdoor fitness culture that yoga has folded into comfortably, and beachside group practice at or near sunrise is a well-established local habit, helped by how narrow the seasonal sunrise swing is at this latitude.

The next ten days in San Diego

Times are local to San Diego and recalculated every time this page loads. The lunar day shown is the one in force at local sunrise.

DateBrahma muhurtaSunriseSunsetDaylightTithiMoonNakshatra
Fri, Nov 64:35 AM – 5:23 AM6:11 AM4:55 PM10h 43mTrayodashiWaning (krishna)7% · waning crescentHasta
Sat, Nov 74:36 AM – 5:24 AM6:12 AM4:54 PM10h 42mChaturdashiWaning (krishna)3% · waning crescentChitra
Sun, Nov 8Amavasya (new moon)4:37 AM – 5:25 AM6:13 AM4:53 PM10h 40mAmavasyaWaning (krishna)0% · new moonSvati
Mon, Nov 94:38 AM – 5:26 AM6:14 AM4:53 PM10h 38mPratipadaWaxing (shukla)0% · new moonVishakha
Tue, Nov 104:39 AM – 5:27 AM6:15 AM4:52 PM10h 37mDvitiyaWaxing (shukla)2% · waxing crescentAnuradha
Wed, Nov 114:40 AM – 5:28 AM6:16 AM4:51 PM10h 35mTritiyaWaxing (shukla)5% · waxing crescentJyeshtha
Thu, Nov 124:41 AM – 5:29 AM6:17 AM4:51 PM10h 34mChaturthiWaxing (shukla)10% · waxing crescentMula
Fri, Nov 134:42 AM – 5:30 AM6:18 AM4:50 PM10h 32mChaturthiWaxing (shukla)16% · waxing crescentPurva Ashadha
Sat, Nov 144:43 AM – 5:31 AM6:19 AM4:49 PM10h 31mPanchamiWaxing (shukla)24% · waxing crescentPurva Ashadha
Sun, Nov 154:44 AM – 5:32 AM6:20 AM4:49 PM10h 29mShashthiWaxing (shukla)32% · waxing crescentUttara Ashadha

How far the window moves across the year here

At San Diego's latitude of 32.7°, the June solstice brings sunrise at roughly 5:42 AM with about 14h 18m of daylight, while the December solstice brings sunrise at roughly 6:48 AM with about 10h 00m. Both figures are computed for this location, not averaged from anywhere else. If the pre-dawn window is out of reach in one half of the year, the tradition's own priority applies: Patanjali's guidance (Yoga Sutras 1.14) is that practice takes hold through long, uninterrupted, earnest attention — consistency first, ideal hour second.

In practice, most people who keep an early routine here do not chase the brahma muhurta window exactly on the days when it falls hardest against their sleep or their working hours. A workable pattern is to pick a fixed clock time that lands inside the window for most of the year, adjust it by a season if the drift becomes extreme, and treat the days it falls slightly outside the ideal 96-to-48-minute band as still worthwhile rather than wasted — the texts describe brahma muhurta as favorable, not as the only valid hour. Seated meditation, pranayama and a short asana warm-up all transfer reasonably well between a strict pre-dawn slot and a slightly later one; what tends to break a habit is not timing drift but skipping the day entirely because the ideal moment has already passed.

Practice timing in San Diego

+ What time is brahma muhurta in San Diego today?
Working back from a computed sunrise of 6:11 AM, the window runs from about 4:35 AM to 5:23 AM local time — 96 to 48 minutes before sunrise. It moves every day with the Sun, so check the table rather than fixing it in your head.
+ Which lunar day is it in San Diego today?
At local sunrise it is Trayodashi, in the waning (krishna) fortnight, with the Moon about 7% illuminated in Hasta. Tithis run between roughly 19 and 26 hours, so a single date can straddle two; the label here is the one in force at sunrise, which is the usual convention.
+ How much does sunrise move across the year in San Diego?
At this latitude, the June solstice sunrise falls around 5:42 AM with about 14h 18m of daylight, and the December solstice sunrise around 6:48 AM with about 10h 00m. That spread is exactly why a sunrise-anchored routine and a clock-anchored one diverge.
+ Are these times exact?
Sunrise and sunset are computed for a sea-level horizon and should be within a minute or two of an observatory table; hills, buildings and altitude shift what you actually see. Tithi and nakshatra use truncated lunar series, so near a boundary a full panchanga may label the day differently. Nothing here is intended for ritual muhurta determination.

Method

  • Sunrise, solar noon and sunset: the standard sunrise equation, using the −0.833° altitude convention for the apparent upper limb and refraction at a sea-level horizon.
  • Lunar day and nakshatra: solar and lunar ecliptic longitudes from truncated Meeus series (Jean Meeus, "Astronomical Algorithms"), with tithi as 12° steps of elongation and nakshatra as 13°20′ steps of sidereal longitude under a linear Lahiri-style ayanamsa approximation.
  • Brahma muhurta: the 48-minute muhurta ending one muhurta before sunrise. Conventions vary between teachers; this is the most common arithmetic definition.
  • Not for ritual muhurta determination — for that, use a panchanga computed within your own tradition.

Timing guidance on this page is traditional and practical, not medical. Nothing here is a religious ruling or a substitute for a panchanga from your own lineage.