Dwindling Daylight Marks Summer's Final Month

This Friday marks eight weeks since the Summer Solstice, and the Autumnal Equinox is just a little more than one month away. Summer officially began on Friday, June 21, while Fall starts in the Northern Hemisphere on Sunday, September 22 at 4:44 p.m. EDT. Where has the time gone?

I'm sure you’ve noticed by now that our days are getting shorter. In fact, today's sunrise at 6:01 EDT marks the first time since April 23 that the Sun rises after 6 o'clock. This evening's sunset is at 7:53 p.m. The times of sunrise and sunset on the first day of Summer were at 5:19 a.m. & 8:30 p.m., respectively. That means we’ve lost one hour and 19 minutes of daylight over the last eight weeks. And, daylight will continue to dwindle.

By the end of August, the sun rises at 6:18 and sets at 7:27, meaning that over an hour of daylight will have been lost in the evening alone since the first day of Summer. Just over one month from now, on the Autumnal Equinox, the sunrise is at 6:38 a.m. and sunset is at 6:53 p.m. The loss of daylight accelerates through the three months of Autumn.

A very nice stretch of weather is ahead through the start of the weekend. A cold front cleared the region last night after delivering less than a quarter-inch of rain (0.19") at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford yesterday. The monthly total (0.84") is still nearly an inch below normal (1.72") through yesterday. The average temperature this month is 72.8 degrees, which is 1.5 degrees below normal.

Enjoy the next couple of days and the last month of Summer!

Paul