Is UV 9 good for tanning?
Partly. UV 9 works for types VI; the fairer types get a morning and an afternoon slot rather than one continuous window. UV 9 sits in the very high band (8–10). Unprotected, type II has about 19 min before the first redness; type VI has 44 min.
Tropical and subtropical summer, the Australian east coast from November to February, and anywhere above 1,500 m in clear summer air.
The verdict, skin type by skin type
| Skin type | Verdict at UV 9 | Time before redness | Own limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I | Not in the middle of the day | 15 min | UV 3.3 |
| Type II | Not in the middle of the day | 19 min | UV 4.2 |
| Type III | Not in the middle of the day | 22 min | UV 5 |
| Type IV | Not in the middle of the day | 30 min | UV 6.7 |
| Type V | Not in the middle of the day | 37 min | UV 8.3 |
| Type VI | Yes | 44 min | UV 10 |
Today in Columbus
UV 0.1 right now (low) · peak UV 8.6 at 14:00 · skin type II window 11:07–11:35 and 16:36–17:49
- 14:00 Peak UV hour
- 19 min Time to redness at peak, type II
- 11:07–11:35 First of 2 windows
- 11:20–17:13 Protection recommended (UV 3+, WHO)
Why the level matters less than the clock
At UV 9 the burn times compress hard: 15 minutes for type I, 19 for type II, 22 for type III. Reflection matters more than at any lower level — dry sand adds about 15% and water alongside you adds about 20%, which turns a 19-minute limit into 15.
The honest framing of the question is not whether UV 9 is good, but how much of it you take. The dose is UV × time, so twenty minutes at UV 9 and 45 minutes at UV 4 put the same amount of energy into your skin. The difference is how easy it is to overshoot at UV 9 — 19 min is short enough to pass while you are reading.
What to do: Shade between 10:00 and 16:00. If you are on sand or beside water, subtract a fifth from every number on this page.
Where the sun is strongest right now
Nowhere we track peaks at exactly UV 9 on its current forecast day. Here is where the sun is strongest instead.
- Brighton — UV 6.5High · United Kingdom · peak at 13:00 · type II window 15:34–17:10
- Bristol — UV 6.3High · United Kingdom · peak at 13:00 · type II window 11:17–12:12
- Cardiff — UV 5.8High · United Kingdom · peak at 13:00 · type II window 11:17–12:18
Questions people ask about this
Is UV 9 good for tanning?
Partly. UV 9 works for types VI; the fairer types get a morning and an afternoon slot rather than one continuous window. At UV 9, type II reaches the first redness in about 19 min with no sunscreen, so the tan has to be built in short sessions rather than one long one.
Is UV 9 too high to tan safely?
Not for types VI, whose limit sits at or above UV 9. For the others it is: their unprotected time falls under 40 minutes, which is short enough to be crossed without noticing.
What is the best time of day to tan at UV 9?
The hours either side of the peak, not the peak itself. UV follows the sun, so a day that reaches UV 9 at solar noon is around UV 5 two hours before and after. That is where the usable window sits for fair skin — the live chart on this page shows the current forecast for your location.
Can you tan faster at UV 9 than at a lower level?
You reach the same dose sooner, which is not the same as tanning better. Melanin production has a ceiling; going past it produces a burn, and a burn peels, which removes the tan. A shorter session at UV 9 and a longer one at UV 4 give a comparable result, and only one of them risks the peel.