For our Northern DU'rs: Who Hates the Days getting Shorter?

[electric_blue68]

Yes, I do remember the threads about permanent daylight Savings Time, and kids going to school in the dark etc.

But I hate it, as I watch at 6:59PM the sky getting dimmer out my window. I love the sun setting at 8:30ish here in NYC at the height! 8PM is great, too!
I'd even settle for 7:30 PM, which it's close to now. Or even 7:00PM; compared to the 4:30PMish at it's shortest, and 5PM. 😬😑😞
__________________________

Very funny though how associations can affect a person's perceptions .
For me lots of trees fully of middle green colored leaves (vs the lighter, also pretty Spring green), and flowers of certain kinds (like, not tulips, or daffodils) that arrive as later Spring, and Summer blossums ='s late sunsets!

imagine my relative shock when visiting Puerto Rico with all it's green lushness only to have the sun set around 5PM - 5:30PM! I was upset!
I was so expecting to luxurate uinder the palm trees, and long evening light. Ahh, we'll. It still was a wonderful vacation in '07.

[choie]

1. Not me!

I'm in NYC and I love shorter days!

[electric_blue68]

4. Hi neighbor!

👋

[choie]

22. Howdy!

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. Darkness is your friend? (n.t.)

[choie]

21. Yes, I've come to talk with you again

[dflprincess]

2. Me

In the Minneapolis burbs. Sunset tonight is at 7:52.

[electric_blue68]

5. Took me a sec, but your higher lattitude would make your sun set even later then ours.

👍

[Ocelot II]

3. I kind of like it. It makes evenings seem normal.

It gets kind of old by December but I tend to like the nighttime vibe.

[electric_blue68]

6. I understand that. 👍

"It gets kind of old by December.".

😄

[msongs]

7. maybe we could get longer days in the cooler seasons nt

[electric_blue68]

9. Interesting...

Well, I don't really like above 90°F-ish.
And no high humidity!

I like dry very high 70's - low 80's the best for outside. And that's when I love being out later in the light. 🥰

[surfered]

8. For us, it means the declining threat of hurricanes.

[electric_blue68]

10. THAT makes perfect sense!

(stay safe this season!)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Sunset at 8:10 in S.E.Michigan

It's nice being in the western end of a time zone.

I understand about the sunset in P.R. I noticed the early sunsets in Jamaica. And, it seemed there was very little twilight. The sun set, and in what seemed like a few minutes, it was dark.

Now we have to get ready to switch to standard time. Or not. Donald will make that decision in about two weeks from when he's asked the question.

[electric_blue68]

33. Interesting, didn't notice about the twilight in Puerto Rico

[electric_blue68]

38. That Western end of a Time Zone Location....

While not at the closest end of a TZ, decades ago when I was visiting GA - Athens, Decatur for ?5-6 days in the summer I realized that the sun was setting about a half hour later then it would be in NYC.

[LeftInTX]

49. You should visit the western end of the central time zone...LOL

I'm sure the eastern end in Florida also has it's gripes too! It's such a huge time zone.

[electric_blue68]

50. I went to look. Wow the Central TZ is really wide down at the western end of TX!

[yellowdogintexas]

63. Louisville is on the very western edge of the Eastern Time Zone and during Daylight Savings Time

it stays light out until around 9:30. The time zone line cuts Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee in half. Some years ago, Indiana allowed each county to choose if they wanted to change time in the spring. You could drive from Louisville to Evansville IN and jump from Eastern Daylight to Eastern Standard to Central Daylight to Central Standard. I have actually left one county and gone to the next one and jumped 3 zones. Finally Indiana woke up and decreed Daylight savings for the whole state

And yes the Central Time Zone is HUGE. All of Texas is in the Central TS except El Paso county.

[LeftInTX]

48. There is almost no twilight at the equator!

Last edited Mon Sep 1, 2025, 08:18 PM - Edit history (2)

And in the arctic it lasts a long time and at the polls it will last several weeks! a month.

Nautical twilight began on Aug 22



https://gml.noaa.gov/obop/spo/livecamera.html


I'm glad I hunted this down. It's really cool that the sun happens to be directly in front of the camera. It rarely is. It will take 3 weeks to rise fully!

Here is the sun fully risen on the first day of southern spring 2024



You can watch time-lapse archives here. But boy that winter moon looks like a sun. Lots of auroras too.

[Scrivener7]

12. Oh, no! From now till New Years is my time of year. Walks in cool air, autumn leaves, Halloween...

I start getting happy this time of year!

Heat saps me and everything feels sluggy.

[electric_blue68]

13. Well, you enjoy it!....

I still love the warmth of the 70's, no fan of 90's,! And like the relative warmth of the 60's. When you can be comfortable in a light-medium sweater, or jacket.

[Aristus]

15. I love Fall and Winter.

I love cold, drizzly, gray days, and cold, dark nights. I love coming home from work and changing into, not a tee-shirt and shorts, but a bathrobe, pajamas, and hand-knit socks.

I love curling up in a warm house with some hot chocolate or a hot toddy, listening to the wind blowing outside, while all is warmth and comfort inside.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, and these days will be here in just about a month. Can’t wait.

[electric_blue68]

16. Enjoy, and stay safe & cozy!

[Sequoia]

25. I used to live there.

The summer days when it was light outside for 17 hours.

[electric_blue68]

35. Oooo, 17 hrs! I think about 15hrs is our max

[SWBTATTReg]

17. I do, it's the annual passage of time, and soon time for the birds to all start flying south. Won't be long before

I'll be able to hear (despite my hard of hearing) all of the birds flying south, by the thousands over the Mississippi River valley. A rite that occurs every year and one that I always welcome. I do miss harvesting no crops at this time of year, but I've cut back on planting a garden over the last 5 or so years. But I do have the Farmer's Market in Soulard (STL CIty, MO), so we'll see tons of different crops, squashes, pumpkins, and so forth so I'll still see the fruits of summer.

[electric_blue68]

36. Enjoy your green market... you just reminded me...

I haven't seen in decades... a flying V... probably of geese.

[SWBTATTReg]

39. Thanks! That's the one thing I never realized when I moved to the area, that I would see these

migrating flocks of birds by the millions, it seems, and it neat seeing it, and hearing it too. Often times, you won't know they are there, until you hear them by the thousands flying over. A neat thing indeed to see, multiple times a year, going south, and then returning. The Monarch butterflies too, but they're not as common, especially over the last few years.

[electric_blue68]

57. Wow! And the monarchs!

I know the monarchs are somewhat in trouble. Sigh.

[SWBTATTReg]

58. Yes, sadly. I noticed that their numbers were dropping one year, by accident, I just happened to notice that their

numbers were lower in recent years vs. further back in time. I literally could see dozens of butterflies in my backyard, and now, if I even see five or less, it's major. That's one of the saddest things for me to witness in my lifetime. It really just guts me.

Maybe, just maybe they're changing their migration path? A hopeful thought, but I suspect not.

[electric_blue68]

60. Woah, that IS sad...

I never saw that many at one time in the big park I used to live near, but we had a lot of all manner of different ones. It was lovely!
I learned to identity the one's I didn't know after I got a pamphlet from the Bronx Zoo from their seasonal Spring/Summer butterfly house.

My unique experience would be sitting on our family apt's fire escape (first floor) where our building was partly built upon an ?9 story high steep hill, and we faced over the streets and buildings below ! It was a 180° view of the sky! As a lover of cloud shapes this was heavenly!
There was a big cantalevered balcony jutting out where the tree tops would be in front, and around the sides past the fence of it.

I'd be relaxing there, and all of a sudden a Monarch would fly about 3 - 4 ft away above, and straight past me going southward! It would be funny bc there was no garden of flowers near by, so where was it going? If it had been flying northward, that would have made sense bc that big park was only about half a mile or less away.
I called them the "strong fliers". 🩷

So even we in "the Big City" have Nature mysteries, and experiences! 🙂

Oh, and one Spring I watched a pair of crows building a nest in a tree on the hill just south of where our balcony ended. They'd fly by with branches! The trees were not fully leafed out so you could see the nest. 👍🩷

[SWBTATTReg]

61. Nice! I guess the nicest thing or neatest thing I saw in my backyard here in the city (STLMO, and we're about a mile or

so from the Mississippi River, so a fair distance, up the bluff up to the city (west side of the river) was that I came outside once, and saw like 20 or 30 Monarch butterflies all at once, and there were more floating through my back yard, in the alleyway, all flying slowly through. What a sight. I'll never forget that.

Take care!

[electric_blue68]

62. Ahh, very Magical!

Be well!

[SWBTATTReg]

59. Another DUer kindly provided a link/map of the routes birds follow...neat!

AllaN01Bear (27,291 posts)
Sat Sep 6, 2025, 08:41 AM
5
RECOMMEND
live bird migration maps . cool
https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/live-migration-maps/

[Talitha]

18. My 'she-shed' out back holds 8 telescopes - so yeah, I love longer nights!

In my northern WI winter, I can get a nice long observing session done by 7pm or 8pm, but in the summertime the horizon is still baby blue till almost 11pm.

[electric_blue68]

19. Ooo, 8 telescopes! Very cool! Makes sense for you.

What are a few of your favorite viewings?

[Talitha]

20. Basically most everything out there.

There's comets, supernovas, nebulas, galaxies, open star clusters, globular star clusters and double stars. So much bling, so little time!
The Moon and Jupiter are alive, changing their view within hours due to light angle and rotation.
Saturn's beautiful rings are absolutely stunning when wide open - when seen edge-on though, they seem to completely disappear and allow us to see more of the planet itself.
Pluto is but a faint speck - but at least I can say I've seen it several times.
Yeah, I'm a nerd.

[electric_blue68]

23. A lot of of amazing beauty out there.

[True Dough]

24. I'm with you

Shorter days are a bummer. Maybe an hour of daylight shaved off the evenings since summer solstice. And that trend continues until Dec. 21st or so. Booooo!!!

It's worse for my wife, though. She copes with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). She uses a SAD light to help her endure dark winter days.

But, if I'm being honest, I won't miss the extreme heat.

[Delphinus]

26. Not I

I love the shortened days and longer nights.

[GreenWave]

27. Days are getting longer. In a few million years they will be 25 hours long!

https://usa.inquirer.net/155256/earth-could-have-25-hours-in-a-day

[Wounded Bear]

28. It is what it is. Certainly like the cooler weather that accompanies fall...

Not a fan of snow, but can take it as long as it stays in the mountains where it belongs.

[Sogo]

29. I always feel a sense of dread when the stores start putting out the mums....

nt

[rurallib]

30. I hate the heat and the long sunlight so I am so happy

with shorter days and cooler temps.

[milestogo]

31. I just want the mosquitoes to go away.

All summer long they chew on me.

[Easterncedar]

32. I love it

Shorter days mean fewer hours of chores for this retiree, and I love the change of light as the leaves begin to turn and cooler weather begins to edge our way.

[catbyte]

34. I love it. Bright light -- especially bright sunlight -- hurts my eyes and can trigger a migraine

if I'm out in it too long or near a curtainless window. I've always been that way.

[electric_blue68]

37. Oh, ugh, I'm l sorry to hear that! ....

I have had only (🤞 ) one migraine in my life triggered by a particular part of an eye exam by a different eye doctor my dad drove us to.

By the time we got home I had the full blown version.
I'm 72 now, I was 15, or 16 then. So 57, or 56 years ago, and I still remember how nasty it was, with the right prompt.

So I absolutely empathize with your caution!

[Marthe48]

40. I don't mind shorter days

The inconsiderate people on the street don't usually run their illegal, loud vehicles after dark. Some days, I wouldn't mind if it were dark and rainy from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Luckily, the earphones I bought mask most of the noise.

Aside from the joy riders, the person across the street either leaves for work in a loud truck or on a loud motorcycle, so no matter how long I'd like to sleep, i am awakened when they leave for work at 7:20 a.m. by their noise M-F. I can hear it over the fan in my room.

[electric_blue68]

41. Well, you sure have reason to prefer it! Sorry about your....

neighbor's "alarm clock". 🛻 🏍

Too much dark and rainy would depress me!

[Marthe48]

42. Thank you for understanding

Sometimes I think I'm part vampire

[Harker]

43. The day is okay, and the Sun can be fun...

but I live to see those rays slip away.

[electric_blue68]

44. You enjoy the evening dusk and nighttime

[Harker]

45. Very much.

When I spot bats working above me, it's sublime!

[electric_blue68]

46. Oh, that's wild. 👍

[Harker]

47. ...

🦇

[pfitz59]

51. Seattle is getting dark earlier

The big dark is approaching

[electric_blue68]

52. I see...blurry image but cross hairs are after 7PM

have to post image brb👍
[url=https://postimg.cc/XrgVtmQB][img][/img][/url]

This covers the whole year left to right
Jan- Dec

[Woodwizard]

53. Lived in HI

I lived in HI for 5 years it was around s half hour difference from sunset time though the year.

Been living in the Catskills for the last 37 Years I enjoy the seasonal change. Love it here a hike in silent woods in winter on a clear day is magical.

[electric_blue68]

54. With a like Woodwizard you probably would, unless you were a wood turner instead

Too cold for me!
I can see the appeal, though. 👍

[Metaphorical]

55. Washingtonian Here

I've been revelling in it. I'm naturally something of a night owl, and find that long days of summer always leave me feeling exhausted. Almost into September, the weather is cooler (no more 90 degree days), the folliage is changing (not as noticeable here, but still spectacular), and the rains are finally coming back.

[electric_blue68]

56. I tend to be an afternoon person to nightowl myself, but I

love the long days just the same.

Trees turning already? That'd would make me sad! I'm thinking nyc is at a some what lower lattitude.
You enjoy!

Believe me I'm not too fond of 90+° either. Though a dry low humidity day of 90°F outside I can handle ok as long as there's A/C inside, especially at night

OK, looked at a map. Seattle seems to be in line with upper Vermont and New Hampshire.
So yes a fair amount north of NYC!