(NEXSTAR) — Sure, the sun setting earlier means you can appreciate the holiday lights strung on cars and houses earlier in the day. It would be hard to do that if the sun didn’t set until after 8 p.m. as it does in summer. But, commuting home from work (and for some people, to work) under a veil of darkness can bring down the mood.
Thankfully, days will start to get longer soon.
Since we changed the clocks back an hour in November, the sun has been rising later and setting earlier, giving us the fewest daylight hours of the year. In Chicago, for example, days have been about nine and a half hours long, with the sun rising around 7 a.m. and setting before 4:30 p.m. During the summer months, days are around 15 hours long.
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The days will have to get “shorter” before the trend can switch. On Dec. 7, the sun rises at around 7:05 a.m. in Chicago and sets at 4:19 p.m., for a nine-hour-and-14-minute day. On Sunday, Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year because of the winter solstice, the sun will rise at 7:15 a.m. and set at 4:23 p.m. — a nine-hour, eight-minute day…