In July, typical afternoon highs at Willis Tower run around 85°F (hot). Mid-afternoon sun stands about 57° high, and the sun is up from 5:28 AM to 8:23 PM. Expect long stretches in open sun, with shade pockets near structures.
See live sun & real shadows here →| January | 29°F |
| February | 33°F |
| March | 54°F |
| April | 58°F |
| May | 64°F |
| June | 82°F |
| July | 85°F |
| August | 80°F |
| September | 75°F |
| October | 64°F |
| November | 49°F |
| December | 35°F |
Expect long stretches in open sun, with shade pockets near structures. See real building shadows over satellite imagery for any time of day: https://isthereshade.com/?anywhere&at=41.8789,-87.6358
Around 8:23 PM local time in mid-July (it shifts through the year). Sunrise is about 5:28 AM.
Willis Tower · Chicago, IL. Data: exact sun position; climate normals from historical weather; live forecast on the interactive view.
Most of a Willis Tower visit happens indoors and 1,300 feet up, which flips the usual sun-and-shade question on its head. The heat rarely reaches you inside the tower or on the enclosed Skydeck; what the sun affects here is the line outside and, more than anything, the view. Chicago afternoon highs reach about 85°F in July, the warmest month, so the street-level wait is manageable heat-wise, the real planning is around glare, haze, and when the light makes the city look its best from the top.
In July the sun is up from around 5:28 AM to about 8:23 PM, a long day over the city. By 3 PM it sits roughly 57 degrees above the horizon out to the west-southwest. That afternoon position matters up on the Skydeck: looking west and south into a high, bright sun washes out the view and makes photos through the glass hard, while the eastern outlook over Lake Michigan stays clear and well-lit. Midday gives you the sharpest, most detailed distant views when the air is clear; the low evening sun before that 8:23 sunset delivers the warm light and, on a good night, a sunset over the western suburbs.
If your goal is photographs without glare, favor the lake side in the afternoon and the western side in the morning, or come for the evening when the sun is low enough to shoot toward. Haze tends to build on hot, humid summer afternoons, so a clear morning often gives the crispest long-distance visibility.
At street level, Willis Tower sits among the tall buildings of Chicago's Loop, and that dense downtown is its own shade machine. The surrounding towers throw deep shadow across the sidewalks for much of the day, so the outdoor portion of the queue is often shaded by the neighboring high-rises rather than baking in the open, a genuine advantage of a downtown skyscraper over an open plaza. As the afternoon sun swings west-southwest, the shaded side of the street shifts, but in the canyon of the Loop you are rarely fully exposed for long.
Chicago's weather swings hard, and it shows in the numbers: winter afternoons sit near freezing while July and August reach the mid-80s. Temperature barely touches the indoor Skydeck experience, but season shapes the view, crisp cold days often bring the longest visibility, while summer haze can shorten it. Whenever you go, pick your hour by where the sun sits relative to the direction you want to look. To see how the surrounding Loop towers cast their shadows over the tower's base at your planned time, use the satellite shadow view for downtown Chicago.