Longer days are coming faster now. Here’s how soon SC will have sunsets after 6 p.m.
Are you tired of the sun setting so fast in South Carolina?
Well, sunlight lovers won’t be trapped in the dark too much longer.
The days are lengthening at a rapid pace in the state now following the winter solstice on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. The sun set at 5:18 p.m. in South Carolina on the solstice after giving the state just about 9 hours and 53 minutes of daylight, according to timeanddate.com.
South Carolina slowly started regaining sunlight after the solstice, just a few seconds a day in December and early January. Since Jan. 12 though, the Palmetto State has gained a little over a minute of additional sunlight each day.
When will the sun set after 6 p.m. in SC?
South Carolina has a little over a week to go before residents can enjoy 6 p.m. and later sunsets.
According to timeanddate.com, the sun set at 5:52 p.m. on Tuesday after providing about 10 hours and 29 minutes of daylight. The first day of the year the state will have an after 6 p.m. sunset is Feb. 8. On that day, the sun will set a 6:01 p.m. after providing more than 10 hours and 45 minutes of daylight.
From there, the state will gain more daylight at an even faster rate to the point that it starts seeing over 2 minutes of extra sunlight each day of late February. Through the entire month of February, South Carolina will gain more than 50 minutes of day time.
The state’s daylight will then increase exponentially until the spring equinox on March 19, then begin to slow down until the summer solstice in June.
Why does daylight increase so much in March?
March has the fastest gains in daylight of any month the closer we get to and the pass the spring equinox, which is when the sun crosses the celestial equator and the northern hemisphere tilts more often toward the sun. The northern and southern hemispheres receive about the same amount of sunlight on the spring equinox. After the equinox, the northern hemisphere moves into spring and summer.
South Carolina will gain over 2 minutes of sunlight every day in March. And at the end of the month, the sun will set at 7:44 p.m. — Daylight Saving Time on March 10 will assist in moving that time forward. By March 16, with a sunrise of 7:32 a.m., South Carolina will start having days of more than 12 hours of total sunlight.
After the spring equinox, South Carolina will continue to gain sunlight but at a slower pace. The state’s daylight hours will peak on the summer solstice on June 20 — with about 14 hours and 25 minutes of total sunlight.
Day time will slowly start to shrink from there as South Carolina again inches back toward winter.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Longer days are coming faster now. Here’s how soon SC will have sunsets after 6 p.m.."
