What time does it get light out

Brighter winter evenings would come at the expense of darker mornings

Imagine waking up before the sun: at 8:30 a.m. or even later.

On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would keep daylight saving time year-round — giving the nation later sunrises but more evening sunlight during the darkest months of the year. But despite growing support for abolishing semiannual clock changes and making our winter evenings brighter, permanent daylight saving time probably would benefit some parts of the country more than others.

All states except for Arizona and Hawaii observe daylight saving time, with the clocks “springing forward” in early March and “falling back” in early November. If the Senate bill is approved by the House and signed by President Biden, we would set the clocks ahead in March 2023 and then keep them there permanently.

While millions of Americans would no longer complain about switching the clocks — and no doubt many would enjoy more evening daylight in the winter — permanent daylight saving time might end up being a dark wake-up call during the winter months, especially in some parts of the country where the sun already tends to rise late.

No matter where you live in the United States, year-round daylight saving time means the sun would rise and set an hour later than we’re used to from November to March. With daylight shifted toward the evening, most of the nation would see sunset after 5 p.m. around the winter solstice in December. D.C., for example, would see its earliest sunset at 5:45 p.m. (instead of 4:45 p.m.), and the latest sunrise would shift to 8:27 a.m. (from 7:27 a.m.) in early January, according to timeanddate.com.

In some places, keeping the clocks ahead in winter makes a lot of sense, especially in cities such as Boston and Chicago, which lie on the eastern edge of their respective time zones. Much of New England, which experiences some of the earliest sunsets in the country, would experience winter daylight more reasonably, from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. instead of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Boston’s earliest sunset would occur at a more work-friendly 5:11 p.m., instead of at 4:11 p.m. Similarly, Chicago and Los Angeles would still have daylight after 5 p.m. in December and January.

No more early sunsets in the 4 o’clock hour, and an extra hour of sunlight for running errands or exercising after work sounds like a no-brainer.

What’s the catch? Well, winter days are inherently short, and keeping the clocks ahead from November to March would mean our mornings would be noticeably darker for several months of the year. In Washington, sunrise would occur after 8 a.m. from around Thanksgiving until Valentine’s Day.

Later sunrises might make sense for residents of Rhode Island, Maine or Massachusetts, where the sun already rises and sets early throughout the year. These states are on the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone, so the sun rises fairly early even in winter. But for people who live in the western edge of a time zone (such as western Indiana, Michigan or North Dakota), year-round daylight saving time would mean very dark mornings for a good portion of the year.

In Indianapolis, for example, the sun already rises after 8 a.m. around the winter solstice. With permanent daylight saving time, the sun would never set before 6 p.m., but the latest sunrise would occur after 9 a.m. In fact, Indy residents would see sunrise after 8:30 a.m. from mid-November to mid-February if the nation permanently ditches standard time. In Bismarck, N.D., the sun would not rise until almost 9:30 a.m. in December.

(Video: The Washington Post)

Darker and colder winter mornings are one reason the Senate’s “Sunshine Protection Act” supporting permanent daylight saving time might never become law. But, considering all the grumbling we hear each year about switching the clocks back and forth — and the fact that we already observe daylight saving time for eight months of the year — perhaps it’s worth once more experimenting with brighter evenings in the winter, even if it comes at the expense of morning light.

Sunrise and sunset times

A detailed table and graphics showing the sunsrise and sunset times for more than 100.000 places around the world. What time is it dark today and how long does it take for it to get dark after sunset? What is the day length today?

Singapore, Singapore - Position of the sun in the sky on October 28, 2022

Please enter 3 or more characters

* Small discrepancies in calculations might occur due to round-off errors.

What time is it dark today?

On 28 October the sun rises at 06:46 and sets at 18:50. The sun is 12 h 4 min. above the horizon, the daylight. The morning astronomical twilling starts at 05:35, the evening astronomical twilling ends at 20:01, the sky is complettely dark.

Table of the times of sunrise and sunset in 2022, Singapore

daylight saving time

standard time

Interactive graph with the sunrise and sunset times and the day length during the year 2022, Singapore

Dusk: The start of the astronomical twilight. The time of the first sunlights, from this moment the sky becomes lighter!
During nautical twilight the illumination is such that the horizon is still visible and vague outlines of ground objects may be distinguishable, but not details.
Civil twilight can also be described as the limit at which twilight illumination is sufficient, under clear weather conditions. At the beginning of morning civil twilight, or end of evening civil twilight, the horizon is clearly defined.
Sunrise: The sun rises and the geometric center of the sun is on the horizon.
Sunset: The sun sets and the geometric center of the sun is on the horizon.
Dark: the astronomical twilight, the evening twilight ends and night begins. There is no color in the sky during astronomical twilight.

What time is it starting to get light?

Is it light outside before sunrise?

What time does it get light out in the UK?

What time is day break?