NORFOLK, Va. — As we continue to push later into summer it’s worth stepping back and noting how our days have begun to noticeably get shorter…
It all started back on the 20th of June, the date of this year's Summer Solstice. In addition to being the "beginning" of summer, also known for having the longest duration of daylight of the entire year. On that date here in Norfolk, we enjoyed 14 hours and 41 minutes with the sun up.
Ever since then, daylight has been chiseled away. At first, it wasn’t noticeable nearly at all, losing a measly few seconds. But gradually the daylight began to fall off at over 1 minute per day. Which on a day-to-day basis doesn’t seem like much, but added all up it amounts to a sizable loss of daylight.
Just how much have we lost since the Solstice? About 27 minutes as of July 23rd. The loss of daylight will accelerate. By the end of August, we’ll have lost a total of 1 hour and 43 minutes of daylight! Of course, it doesn’t end there. We're losing daylight each day right up until the Winter Solstice in December.
This loss of daylight is most notable in the time of sunrise and sunset.
The week of July 23rd, the sun is coming up about 18 minutes later and setting about 9 minutes earlier than it did on June 20th. But by the end of August, the sun will set another 31 minutes earlier than July 23rd and rise 44 minutes later.