Earlier sunsets This is why the evenings are suddenly getting shorter so quickly
Long summer evenings are now rapidly coming to an end. The reason for this is that the sun is reaching its noon point earlier every day and the evenings are quickly getting shorter. Since Friday, the sun seems to be getting faster.
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- The long summer evenings are now rapidly getting shorter.
- This is because, on the one hand, the sun is reaching its noon point earlier and, on the other, the length of the day is decreasing.
- On August 31, sunset is already at 8.11 pm. By contrast, on the longest day, June 20, the sun set at 9.28 pm.
After the longest day, it will remain light in the evening for almost a month, as the weather service SRF Meteo announced on Friday. In Bern, the sun set at 9.28 p.m. on June 20, this year's longest day. On July 26, the sun disappeared behind the horizon at 9.09 pm.
But that's the end of it. On August 31, the sun sets at 8.11 pm. In these 36 days, the evening will be 58 minutes shorter. However, in the same period between the longest day and July 26, the evening was only 19 minutes shorter.
As SRF Meteo explained, the phenomenon can be explained by the Earth's orbit. Until July 25, the sun reaches its highest point, the noon point, later and later. On Friday, this turned around, and so the sun is once again at the highest point of its daily orbit earlier in the day.
Behind schedule in midsummer
On an annual average, the sun is at its highest point in Bern at 12.30 pm, with summer time at 1.30 pm. In midsummer, however, it lags behind its schedule according to SRF Meteo.
On the longest day, i.e. June 21, it reaches its zenith at 1.32 pm (summer time) and currently at 1.36 pm.
With Friday's turnaround, it will reach its highest point earlier again. The earliest noon falls in late fall. On November 2, this will be the case in Bern at 12.13 p.m., 23 minutes earlier than at present.
Attributable to the Earth's elliptical orbit
The consequence: evenings are rapidly becoming shorter because, on the one hand, the length of the day is decreasing and, on the other, the sun is reaching midday earlier and earlier.
In the morning, the process is reversed. The shorter day length does not have such a strong effect in the morning, as the sun is on its way earlier. If the sun sets 58 minutes earlier on August 31, sunrise is only delayed by 46 minutes.
This is due to the Earth's elliptical orbit. At the beginning of July, the Earth is at its furthest point from the sun, even if it is summer in the northern hemisphere.
