COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -- Have you noticed daylight decreasing as summer comes to an end, there's a reason why this occurs. Meteorologist Cody Nickel explains how much daylight we've lost to date.
As we transition from summer to autumn, the sun's angle or altitude to the horizon starts to become lower and lower in the sky.
The Summer Solstice which occurred on Tuesday, June 21 which is the longest day of the year in terms of daylight. in Columbus we receive 14 hours, 17 minutes and 6 seconds of daylight on that day.
How much daylight have we lost since then?
For Thursday, September 1, the sun rises in Columbus at 7:15 a.m. and the sun sets at 8:04 p.m. This gives us a total amount of daylight for that day at 12 hours, 49 minutes and 19 seconds. After a few simple math calculations, we have lost a total of 87 minutes to darkness.
This simple calculation can be done for the entire period where we are losing daylight every day until the Winter Solstice, known for being the shortest day of the year.
Taking data from June 21 again, the amount of daylight we receive is 14 hours, 17 minutes and 6 seconds.
For the Winter Solstice, which occurs Wednesday, December 21 we receive a total amount of daylight at 10 hours, 1 minute and 4 seconds.
Calculating that, from the start of summer to the start of winter, in Columbus we lose 256 minutes (4 hours and 16 minutes) to darkness over this period from June to December.
During the months of September and October we are constantly losing roughly 2 minutes per day as we near the Autumnal Equinox which we receive “equal” amount of daylight and darkness.
You might ask yourself, how does Daylight Saving Time play a role into this? While Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 6 it doesn’t effect the amount of daylight.
Daylight Saving Time only changes the time at which the sun will rise and set by falling back an hour. The amount of daylight is unchanged; however, with the change in time more light will be available in the morning.
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