GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — August is coming to a close and the length of day is already shrinking. At the height of summer, West Michigan boasted sunsets after 9 p.m. with only four hours of complete darkness untouched by civil or nautical twilight.

Since the solstice, we have lost almost two hours of daylight from our days.

Daylight-Tracker

August 23rd is particularly interesting because it marks the exact day when we have lost an even amount of minutes from our sunrise and from our sunset. As of Tuesday, the sunrise was exactly 54 minutes later than it occurs at solstice and the sunset is exactly 54 minutes earlier.

Dwindling-Daylight

The Fall Equinox officially begins at 9:03 p.m. on September 22nd of this year. By that point in time, West Michigan will lose an additional hour and 25 minutes of daylight from now.

WHEN DOES THE FASTEST DROP IN DAYLIGHT OCCUR?

During the month of August we see daylight losses on the order of 2 minutes and 12 seconds at the beginning of the month and 2 minutes and 42 seconds by the end of the month. September and October boast larger losses each day. September and October lose about two to three minutes of daylight each day throughout the entirety of both months.

Late June is when day length is maximized. Here is how much daylight we lose by month for our area. December is when we see the least amount of daylight per day.

  • June: maximum day length 15 hours, 21 minutes
  • July: day length falls to 14 hours, 21 minutes
  • August: day length falls to 13 hours, 12 minutes
  • September: day length falls to 11 hours, 46 minutes
  • October: day length falls to 10 hours, 20 minutes
  • November: day length falls to 9 hours, 16 minutes
  • December: day length falls to 9 hours, 0 minutes

Sunsets won’t sink before 7 p.m. until mid-October. Our last 6 p.m. sunset of the season will land on November 5th.