(WGHP) – October is known to many as the start of “spooky season.” But, it’s also known as a month of cooling temperatures, changing leaves and less daylight.
As you’ve been preparing for work each morning, you may have noticed that the sun is rising later each day, and, for some, you’re now leaving for work in the dark.
September has the most amount of daylight lost in a single month with the Piedmont Triad losing about 65 minutes of daylight. However, in our area, the difference between September and October daylight lost is nearly equal with only a few seconds difference.
For the Triad, we lose approximately 65 minutes of daylight in October. Between September and October, we lose a total of two hours and 10 minutes of daylight in only 61 days. This averages out to about two minutes of daylight lost each day in a two-month span.
If you think losing two minutes each day is bad, Barrow, Alaska loses approximately 11 minutes of daylight per day in fall!
The reason for the difference in daylight has to do with the tilt of the earth in relation to the sun. In the winter months, the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun. When the sun hits the earth at this angle, we have fewer daylight hours and the sun appears lower in the sky. One of the reasons we’re much colder in the winter months is because of the angle of the sun. There is less heating because we are no longer receiving direct sunlight since the sun’s rays are angled and “spread out.”
In central NC, the last 7 p.m. sunset of the year occurs in October, which starts a five-month period in which the sun goes down before 7 p.m. The Triad’s last 7 p.m. sunset occurred on Oct. 2 and we won’t have another 7 p.m. sunset. until March 12, the start of daylight saving.
The first week of November, the sunrise occurs between 7:40 a.m. and 7:45 a.m with sunset occurring between 6:19 p.m. and 6:23 p.m.
Once daylight saving ends on Nov. 6, our sun will rise around 6:45 a.m. with a sunset time at 5:18 p.m, leaving us with only 10 hours and 31 minutes of daylight.
