If the "Sunday Scaries" have been hitting a little harder lately, you can blame the shorter days. For us here in Southern Colorado, it may feel a little bit earlier due to the mountains. With the Winter Solstice approaching, I wanted to see when the sun will set and take the mountains into consideration. The sun sets behind Pikes Peak at 3:55 PM on December 21st, which is the Winter Solstice, or shortest day of the year.
Why do we have shorter days in the Winter?
This is all due to the angle of the Earth. The Earth is tilted on a 23.5 degrees, which allows the different hemispheres to experience different lengths of sunlight. The Northern Hemisphere in the wintertime is tilted further away from the sun, while the Southern Hemisphere sees more daylight. This is also why we see colder temperatures during this time of year because we are further away from the sun.
What are our current sunset times?
Colorado Springs Sunset/Sunrise Timesis a great tool for looking at different sunset and sunrise times. If you want to see the times for Pueblo, Canon City, or Woodland Park you can just search for your city in the top right hand corner of the page.
As of December 4th, our sunset time for Colorado Springs was 4:37 PM. This is technically, and earlier sunset than the shortest day of the year.
Why doesn't the Winter Solstice have the earliest sunset time?
We measure our days in 24 hour increments, but our Earth is not on the same schedule as us. The spin of the Earth isn't exact and can vary by a few seconds to over 24 hours. This means that our earliest sunset is actually early December and not during the Winter Solstice.
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