“The days just keep getting shorter” is an accurate but irritating cliché people tend to overuse near end of every year. In Wyoming, the days are getting shorter, but not in the direction most people would expect.
The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, which falls Dec. 21. However, many people in Wyoming have already experienced their earliest sunsets of the entire year.
Sunset in Casper was at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, making it the earliest sunset of the year. It’s even earlier than the upcoming 4:34 p.m. sunset on Dec. 21, the winter solstice.
Is this a fluke, or are winter days in Wyoming growing shorter and staying that way longer?
Light At Both Ends Of The Tunnel
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said people tend to focus on one side of a two-sided process when it comes to when the sun rises and set.
“Days getting shorter” is usually measured by how early the sun sets, not by how late the sun rises, he said.
“The different ends are not always the same,” he said. “I think most people’s perception is that that afternoon is getting darker earlier. The sunset is changing, but so is the sunrise. It’s not just one.”
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