Sorry Winter Morning Won’t Brighten Until January
If you are looking forward to the winter solstice this weekend because it is the shortest day of the year – and thus each subsequent day will be slightly longer – I have bad news: although the total length of the day will increase, the sunrise will indeed continue to receive some time later , which means we will have an even darker morning.
Early risers may already be familiar with this phenomenon, but it caught me off guard last year when I got used to getting up early to go jogging. Sunset came later and later every day, but so did the sunrise. The sunrise was 7:39 am at my location on the solstice, and it was late January before I ever saw the sunrise at 7:38 am.
It all depends on your location, so if you crave the morning sun, check out the sunrise and sunset times here .
Let’s take a look at New York. The earliest sunset (darkest evening) was on December 6, so evenings are already getting a little sunnier. On the solstice, the sun rises at 7:16 am and sets at 4:31 pm.
But sunrise also continues to come later, peaking at 7:20 in early January. New Yorkers won’t see the sunrise at 7:15 am until January 20th. They can then begin to celebrate the dawn morning, waiting for the sunrise at 7:00 am at the beginning of February and, eventually, the sun rises in 5:24 in the middle of June.
Now let’s take a more southerly example. In San Diego, the earliest sunset (darkest evening) happened on Thanksgiving. The sunsets were later, and so did the sunrise. On Solstice, people in San Diego will see the sun rise at 6:45 am and sunset at 4:45 pm. They will not see the sunrise until January 30th. Although, if you’re in San Diego, you’re already getting half an hour more morning sun than New Yorkers, so I hope you take advantage of that. Enjoy your morning run!