Sunrise, brahma muhurta and the lunar day in Seattle

Washington, United States · 47.61°, -122.33° · America/Los Angeles

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

Friday, November 6, 2026

Brahma muhurta

5:26 AM – 6:14 AM

Sunrise

7:02 AM

Sunset

4:46 PM

Daylight

9h 44m

Lunar day (tithi)

Trayodashi

Fortnight

Waning (krishna)

Moon

Waning crescent · 7% lit

Nakshatra

Hasta

At 47.6° north, Seattle has the largest seasonal swing of any major city in the contiguous United States — midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunrise are almost four hours apart.

Seattle's yoga and mindfulness culture has grown substantially over the past two decades, supported by a broader Pacific Northwest interest in contemplative practice, hiking culture and a slower pace of daily life relative to larger coastal cities. The defining seasonal fact here is darkness: from roughly November through February the sky can stay heavily overcast for days at a stretch, and combined with the wide sunrise swing noted above, a strictly sunrise-anchored winter practice would start close to eight in the morning — late enough that most residents instead treat winter as the season for a clock-based routine and save sunrise-anchored practice for the long, bright summer months when daylight stretches past nine at night. Persistent rain and cloud cover through the cooler months also mean natural light indoors is limited, so many practitioners here use a well-lit room deliberately rather than relying on daylight through a window.

The next ten days in Seattle

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

DateBrahma muhurtaSunriseSunsetDaylightTithiMoonNakshatra
Fri, Nov 65:26 AM – 6:14 AM7:02 AM4:46 PM9h 44mTrayodashiWaning (krishna)7% · waning crescentHasta
Sat, Nov 75:27 AM – 6:15 AM7:03 AM4:44 PM9h 41mChaturdashiWaning (krishna)3% · waning crescentChitra
Sun, Nov 8Amavasya (new moon)5:29 AM – 6:17 AM7:05 AM4:43 PM9h 38mAmavasyaWaning (krishna)0% · new moonSvati
Mon, Nov 95:30 AM – 6:18 AM7:06 AM4:42 PM9h 35mPratipadaWaxing (shukla)0% · new moonVishakha
Tue, Nov 105:32 AM – 6:20 AM7:08 AM4:40 PM9h 32mDvitiyaWaxing (shukla)2% · waxing crescentAnuradha
Wed, Nov 115:33 AM – 6:21 AM7:09 AM4:39 PM9h 30mTritiyaWaxing (shukla)5% · waxing crescentJyeshtha
Thu, Nov 125:35 AM – 6:23 AM7:11 AM4:38 PM9h 27mChaturthiWaxing (shukla)10% · waxing crescentMula
Fri, Nov 135:36 AM – 6:24 AM7:12 AM4:37 PM9h 24mChaturthiWaxing (shukla)17% · waxing crescentPurva Ashadha
Sat, Nov 145:38 AM – 6:26 AM7:14 AM4:35 PM9h 22mPanchamiWaxing (shukla)24% · waxing crescentUttara Ashadha
Sun, Nov 155:39 AM – 6:27 AM7:15 AM4:34 PM9h 19mShashthiWaxing (shukla)33% · waxing crescentUttara Ashadha

How far the window moves across the year here

At Seattle's latitude of 47.6°, the June solstice brings sunrise at roughly 5:12 AM with about 15h 59m of daylight, while the December solstice brings sunrise at roughly 7:56 AM with about 8h 25m. 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 Seattle

+ What time is brahma muhurta in Seattle today?
Working back from a computed sunrise of 7:02 AM, the window runs from about 5:26 AM to 6:14 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 Seattle 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 Seattle?
At this latitude, the June solstice sunrise falls around 5:12 AM with about 15h 59m of daylight, and the December solstice sunrise around 7:56 AM with about 8h 25m. 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.