NORFOLK, Va. — It’s almost autumn, and we’ve been accelerating our loss of daylight since the first day of summer back in June. Right now, we are losing close to two and a half minutes of daylight per day.
Our days are getting shorter and you’re really starting to notice it at sunrise and sunset. The sun is coming up much later and setting much earlier.
Where do we typically bottom out regarding the earliest sunsets and latest sunrises? How about on the flip side: what are the latest sunsets and earliest sunrises?
The latest sunrise in Norfolk is 7:18 in the morning, coming in the heart of the winter just after the holidays. We see this sunrise for about two and a half weeks from January 1 through 18.
Pair that with the earliest sunset which occurs at 4:48 in the afternoon! We experience these exceptionally early sunsets just after Thanksgiving from November 30 through December 10.
How about the earliest sunrise at Norfolk? That’s at 5:45 in the morning occurring right before we kick off summer, from June 7 through 18. The latest sunset in our area happens at 8:28 in the evening just after the summer solstice, from June 23 through July 2.
For comparison, this coming week we will experience sunsets right around 7 p.m. and sunrises just before 7 a.m.