Shorter Days but Later Sunsets

Every year around this time I become obsessed about the ever-shortening days and longer nights. I miss the sun.

If you are like me, you may have been under the impression that the sun sets earlier and rises later every day until December 21^st, after which it begins to rise earlier and set later.

According to the website dateandtime.com,  this is not the case.

Here in Vancouver, the sun stopped setting earlier and earlier every day on December 8^th. As I write this, it is still setting at that low point of 4:13pm and will continue to set at that time every day until December 15^th when it will finally begin to set later day by day.

So, with regard to sunset, we are starting to turn the corner.

However, for reasons that are above my paygrade, the sun continues to rise later and later each day until January 5^th, 2025, the last day it rises at that latest time of 8:07am. It will begin to rise earlier and earlier after that.

However, our impressions were right that the actual amount of daylight we receive really is shortest on December 20^th and 21^st.  It’s confusing.

I decided to do a bit of research to figure out what is going on. The best source I found was on YouTube. The presenter is Insane Curiosity, explaining Why Do Different Places on Earth Have Different Sunset and Sunrise Times?  The reason has to do with the differences in the earth’s tilt and orbit around the sun. Great pictures too.

For other explanations you can check out the Farmers Almanac or Wonderopolis.

Long story short, I cannot wait for Spring!

 

Daily atmospheric CO₂ [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]

Latest daily total (December 10, 2024): 425.88ppm

One year ago (December 10, 2023): 421.56ppm