If you think the days are feeling short now following the end of daylight saving time, it's about to get worse before it gets better.
Days will continue to get shorter in the weeks ahead, with the shortest day of the year still in store.
The sunset took place around 4:40 p.m. when daylight saving time ended on Nov. 5.
The earliest sunset of the year will take place in early December, when the sun will dip below the horizon at approximately 4:19 p.m., but that won't actually be the shortest day of the year.
While the sun will slowly begin to set later after that date, the area will still see less daylight through Dec. 21, when the sun will remain in the sky for less than nine hours and eight minutes. That day marks the 2023 winter solstice, or the first day of winter.
"On the day of the winter solstice, we are tilted as far away from the Sun as possible, which means that the Sun’s path across the sky is as low in the sky as it can be," according to the Farmer's Almanac. "Think about the daily path of the Sun: It rises in the east and sets in the west, arcing across the sky overhead. During the summer, the Sun arcs high in the sky, but during the winter, it arcs lower, closer to the horizon."
The next Chicago-area sunset after 5 p.m. will finally occur on Jan. 28 of next year, according to officials.
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In fact, sunset won’t fall after 6 p.m. again until daylight saving time resumes on March 10. Fortunately, the next 7 p.m. sunset will come soon after on March 17, according to the National Weather Service.
In accordance with federal law, daylight saving time will resume on March 10, 2024, with the second Sunday in March marking the official date when clocks will spring forward.
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