Rule Golden Hour

Golden Hour Forecast for Death Valley, US Southwest

Furnace Creek, California, United States

Death Valley offers salt polygons, alluvial fans, dunes and eroded badlands, with winter bringing milder conditions and occasional cloud texture.

16 matching opportunities in the 14-day forecast.

Hourly forecast scores

Forecast valid from Sep 20, 2026, 5:00 AM UTC (one hour; not an observation)

Golden Hour Potential

Low Cloud Cover0%

Mid Cloud Cover0%

High Cloud Cover0%

Sun Elevation-37.1°

Upcoming Opportunities

When all conditions match, PhotoWeather marks an opportunity window.

Times shown in America/Denver

First upcoming window

Exceptional Golden Hour (calm) at Sunrise

Death Valley

Mon, Sep 21 · 07:18–08:08 · 1h window

Medium confidence

54%

🌇Golden Hour Potential85.4-87.1%

Low Cloud Cover: 0%

Mid Cloud Cover: 57%

High Cloud Cover: 0%

Sun Elevation: -7.7° (Nautical twilight)

Exceptional Golden Hour (calm) at Sunrise

Death Valley

Tue, Sep 22 · 07:19–08:08

🌇Golden Hour Potential:100%

Low

Exceptional Golden Hour (calm) at Sunset

Death Valley

Tue, Sep 22 · 19:10–20:00

🌇Golden Hour Potential:95-95.3%

Low

Exceptional Golden Hour (calm) at Sunrise

Death Valley

Wed, Sep 23 · 07:20–08:09

🌇Golden Hour Potential:94.7%

Low

Exceptional Golden Hour at Sunset

Death Valley

Wed, Sep 23 · 19:09–19:58

🌇Golden Hour Potential:91.4%

Medium

Exceptional Golden Hour (calm) at Sunrise

Death Valley

Thu, Sep 24 · 07:20–08:10

🌇Golden Hour Potential:100%

Low

Exceptional Golden Hour at Sunrise

Death Valley

Sat, Sep 26 · 07:22–08:00

🌇Golden Hour Potential:90.6%

Low

+9 more windows in the next 14 days

72-hour requirements breakdown

When available, this detailed table covers only the stated 72-hour horizon (typically 72–168 hours, depending on available hourly data). Opportunity records above span the full 14-day forecast period, so this table does not explain that entire period. Times shown in America/Denver.

Requirements breakdown is temporarily unavailable or expired. This does not mean no opportunities.

Supporting forecast inputs

Additional hourly values for interpreting the forecast and any derived scores. See the separate requirements breakdown for rule logic; missing values are unavailable.

Forecast time (America/Denver)	Golden Hour	High Clouds	Low Clouds	Mid-Level Clouds	Relative Humidity	Solar Elevation	Total Cloud Coverage	Wind Speed
Sat, Sep 19, 2026Sunrise 07:33 · Sunset 19:48
23:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	10%	-37°	0%	4.1m/s
Sun, Sep 20, 2026Sunrise 07:34 · Sunset 19:46
24:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	10%	-46°	0%	3.9m/s
01:00 Night	Unavailable	4%	0%	0%	10%	-51°	4%	2.3m/s
02:00 Night	Unavailable	5%	0%	0%	11%	-52°	5%	2.2m/s
03:00 Night	Unavailable	7%	0%	0%	11%	-48°	7%	1.1m/s
04:00 Night	Unavailable	90%	0%	0%	12%	-41°	90%	0.82m/s
05:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	12%	-31°	100%	1.9m/s
06:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	13%	-19°	100%	1.8m/s
07:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	13%	-7.6°	100%	2m/s
08:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	14%	4.6°	100%	0.4m/s
09:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	14%	16°	100%	0.81m/s
10:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	23%	28°	100%	1m/s
11:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	68%	13%	39°	100%	1.1m/s
12:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	81%	11%	47°	100%	1.4m/s
13:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	9%	53°	100%	0.91m/s
14:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	8%	54°	100%	1.1m/s
15:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	86%	7%	50°	100%	1.7m/s
16:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	7%	42°	100%	2.7m/s
17:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	36%	6%	32°	100%	4m/s
18:00	Unavailable	1%	0%	2%	6%	21°	2%	3.2m/s
19:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	6%	8.7°	100%	2.1m/s
20:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	75%	6%	-3.3°	100%	2.5m/s
21:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	7%	6%	-15°	100%	3.3m/s
22:00 Night	Unavailable	84%	0%	12%	7%	-27°	84%	4.3m/s
23:00 Night	Unavailable	4%	0%	84%	7%	-37°	84%	4.5m/s
Mon, Sep 21, 2026Sunrise 07:34 · Sunset 19:45
24:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	16%	7%	-46°	16%	3.6m/s
01:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	4%	8%	-52°	4%	2.9m/s
02:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	1%	8%	-53°	1%	2.5m/s
03:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	9%	-49°	0%	3.1m/s
04:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	9%	-41°	0%	2.2m/s
05:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	10%	-31°	0%	1.9m/s
06:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	100%	10%	-20°	100%	2.1m/s
07:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	57%	11%	-7.7°	57%	1.8m/s
08:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	57%	11%	4.4°	57%	0.92m/s
09:00	Unavailable	0%	1%	100%	12%	16°	100%	1.3m/s
10:00	Unavailable	51%	0%	100%	19%	28°	100%	0.73m/s
11:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	100%	17%	38°	100%	3.5m/s
12:00	Unavailable	1%	0%	88%	17%	47°	88%	3.5m/s
13:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	96%	14%	53°	100%	2.4m/s
14:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	12%	54°	100%	1.5m/s
15:00	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	13%	50°	100%	1.1m/s
16:00	Unavailable	100%	1%	100%	15%	42°	100%	1.9m/s
17:00	Unavailable	85%	0%	37%	17%	32°	88%	3.2m/s
18:00	Unavailable	29%	0%	4%	20%	20°	36%	3m/s
19:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	22%	8.4°	8%	3.1m/s
20:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	30%	-3.7°	8%	4.8m/s
21:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	40%	-16°	5%	3.9m/s
22:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	0%	49%	-27°	100%	3.9m/s
23:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	100%	39%	-38°	100%	4.7m/s
Tue, Sep 22, 2026Sunrise 07:35 · Sunset 19:43
24:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	37%	45%	-47°	100%	2.4m/s
01:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	10%	47%	-52°	100%	1.8m/s
02:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	5%	46%	-53°	100%	2.6m/s
03:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	14%	46%	-49°	100%	1.5m/s
04:00 Night	Unavailable	100%	0%	14%	50%	-41°	100%	1.4m/s
05:00 Night	Unavailable	49%	0%	10%	49%	-31°	57%	1.8m/s
06:00 Night	Unavailable	5%	0%	5%	46%	-20°	12%	1.8m/s
07:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	44%	-7.9°	8%	1.7m/s
08:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	42%	4.3°	7%	1.6m/s
09:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	38%	16°	6%	1.2m/s
10:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	34%	28°	5%	1.1m/s
11:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	5%	31%	38°	5%	1.2m/s
12:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	29%	47°	0%	0.67m/s
13:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	26%	52°	0%	0.61m/s
14:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	24%	53°	0%	0.76m/s
15:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	21%	49°	0%	0.76m/s
16:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	19%	41°	0%	0.67m/s
17:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	18%	31°	0%	0.5m/s
18:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	17%	20°	0%	0.76m/s
19:00	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	16%	8.1°	0%	0.82m/s
20:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	17%	-4°	0%	1.1m/s
21:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	18%	-16°	0%	1.2m/s
22:00 Night	Unavailable	0%	0%	0%	20%	-28°	0%	0.81m/s

How this forecast is evaluated

See which weather signals PhotoWeather uses to identify Golden Hour conditions across US Southwest. The requirements and hourly values above show how those signals apply at Death Valley.

Explore Golden Hour conditions across US Southwest →

Recorded match history

Completed PhotoWeather forecast matches recorded for this exact rule at Death Valley during the last 365 days.

Last 30 days

recorded matching windows · 75% average confidence

Last 90 days

recorded matching windows · 73% average confidence

Last 365 days

203

recorded matching windows · 75% average confidence

Most frequent recorded start hour

07:00 local time, shared by 131 of 203 matches recorded in the last 365 days.

Most represented month

May, with 28 of 203 matches recorded in the last 365 days.

These figures use completed PhotoWeather MatchEvent records from the previous 365 days only. They describe recorded forecast matches, not observations, climatological probability, or a guarantee of future conditions.

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How this forecast is made

Opportunities are threshold-based signals: PhotoWeather checks whether forecast conditions match the rules for a photography scenario. They are planning guidance, not guarantees. Forecasts can change as new model runs arrive, and confidence generally decreases farther into the forecast horizon, so recheck conditions before travelling.

The weather forecast foundation comes through Open-Meteo , which aggregates models from weather agencies. PhotoWeather applies condition-specific thresholds and derived calculations; not every condition uses every model or data input.

How opportunities work → Weather data sources →

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