Days have started getting longer in the Chicago area, but anyone looking outside might question it, as sunrise isn’t taking place until after 7 a.m.
While the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, occurred on Dec. 21, it didn’t perfectly align with the earliest sunset nor the latest sunrise of the year. Why? It’s because the Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a perfect oval.
In the weeks following Jan. 1, sunrise will continue to happen later in the morning, slowly decreasing the amount of daylight the Chicago area will see in a given day. According to sunrise-sunset.org, the latest sunrises will occur between Jan. 1 and 9, when it takes place at 7:16 a.m. each day.
After that, sunrise will begin taking place earlier in the day, and the Chicago area will gain roughly a minute of daylight per day, with that rate gradually increasing as time progresses. On Jan. 30, the Chicago area will exceed 10 hours of daylight, and by the time Feb. 1 rolls around, sunrise will occur at 7:01 a.m.
It’s important to note that after the solstice, the increase in daylight comes from later sunsets, not earlier sunrises, as a result of the Earth’s tilt and orbital speed.
Daylight hours will increase and earlier sunrises will occur as spring nears, in the lead up to the start of daylight saving time. As sunrise suddenly takes place an hour later, morning darkness will return temporarily. For example, sunrise will occur at 7:12 a.m. in the hours following the time shift, compared to 6:13 a.m. the day prior.
After that, sunrise times will keep shifting earlier – at 6:31 a.m. on April 1 and 5:44 a.m. on May 1. They’ll get even earlier the following month, with sunrise happening at 5:16 a.m. on June 1.
Sunrise times will continue to follow that pattern for a few more weeks, until they begin increasing again around June 15.