NORFOLK, Va. — If you’ve stepped outside lately, you’ve probably noticed the evenings feeling darker earlier… and that trend is about to reach its peak. Starting December 1, Norfolk will begin experiencing its earliest sunsets of the entire year, and that pattern will stick around for nearly two weeks.
Even though the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year — isn’t until December 21, the earliest sunsets actually happen a little earlier. Our sunset times and the length of the day don’t change at the same rate because of the tilt of the Earth and the way our planet’s orbit speeds up and slows down through the year. So even though daylight continues shrinking until the solstice, the sunsets themselves bottom out a bit sooner.
In Norfolk, that means sunset will happen right around 4:48 p.m. starting December 1 and will stay that early each evening all the way through December 11. After that, sunsets slowly start getting later again, even though the mornings will keep getting darker for a little while longer…