Washington is slipping toward deep, dark winter. Here’s how much daylight we lose each day
From The Olympian:
October is the month with the most drastic loss of daylight and dipping temperatures, according to Carly Kovacik with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
But just how fast are we losing sunlight? Probably more quickly than you imagine.
October: the most dramatic month of fall
October witnesses the fastest decrease in daylight of any other month as we move past the autumnal equinox, which was on Sept. 22.
As the sun crosses the equator southward, it takes slightly longer to rise and slightly quicker to set each day as the axial tilt points the Northern Hemisphere away from the sun’s rays. The transition is fastest during October because directly after the equinox, the tilt causes the sunlight that hits a region to decrease more rapidly than in the dead of winter. The sun is positioned at one end of the spectrum during the summer and winter solstices, when the days are either longest or shortest, respectively, and therefore the change in daylight isn’t as drastic.
So how much daylight do we lose per day?
On Oct. 1 in Washington, the sun rose at approximately 7:08 a.m. and set at 6:48 p.m., for a total of 11 hours and 40 minutes of daylight.
On Oct. 31, the sun will rise around 7:51 a.m. and set at 5:54 p.m., totaling just 10 hours and 2 minutes of daylight, nearly a 90-minute difference.
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