SEATTLE — The last 7 p.m. sunset until 2025 comes this week in western Washington.
The sun will set at 7:01 p.m. on Tuesday, then 6:59 p.m. on Wednesday. Right now we're losing about three and a half minutes of daylight every day, according to Timeanddate.com.
Western Washington will continue to lose daylight until the winter equinox in December.
Dreaded 4 p.m. sunsets will arrive with the end of Daylight Savings Time in November. The sun is projected to set at 4:47 p.m. on Nov. 3.
When will the next 7 p.m. sunset be?
We'll have to wait until Daylight Savings Time goes back into effect near the end of winter. The sun will set at 7:06 p.m. on March 9, 2025.
Why does the day get shorter in the winter?
At different times of the year, the earth's axis is pointed toward or away from the sun, meaning the southern and northern hemispheres receive different amounts of daylight depending on the time of year.
During the winter and fall in the northern hemisphere, the north pole is tilted away from the sun, and during the spring and summer, the north pole is tilted toward the sun.
This means that physically, the sun's path is much lower in the sky during the fall and winter than it is in the spring and summer, according to the U.S. Navy's Astronomical Applications Department. That's why there is less time between sunrise and sunset than there is at other times of year.
At two different times of the year, in March and September, the sun shines for an equal amount of time in both the southern and northern hemispheres, according to the National Weather Service. At these times, the earth's axis is tilted neither toward, nor away from the sun, "resulting in a 'nearly' equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes," according to the NWS.
