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Brighter days: Minnesota gaining nearly 2 minutes of daylight each day

Sunset time in the Twin Cities reaches 5 p.m. Sunday

129 jan sunset
Noticeably brighter evening daylight in January. Minnesota is seeing plenty of light in the southwest sky on clear evenings after 5 pm now. Sunset time Monday occurs 22 minutes later than 3 weeks ago.
Paul Huttner/MPR News

Have you noticed the brighter evenings Minnesota?

Our daylight is growing more quickly now as we move away from the winter solstice.

Earth's orbit and seasons
Earth's orbit and seasons
NASA

We’re gaining nearly 2 minutes of daylight per day by this weekend. Most of that gain is on the sunset side of the day thanks to the earth’s axial tilt and orbit.

The sun is setting 22 minutes later than it did 4 weeks ago. The sunset time in the Twin Cities reaches 5 pm on Sunday.

Take a look at the sunset times below.

  • December 13 4:31 pm

  • January 11 4:53 pm

  • January 17 5:00 pm

Here’s a more detailed chart of solar times in January for the Twin Cities from timeanddate.com.

Solar data for the Twin Cities
Solar data for the Twin Cities
NASA via timeanddate.com

By the end of January, Minnesota will gain another 40 minutes of daylight. Sunset time on January 31 in the Twin Cities is 5:20 pm.

That means you’ll still see twilight in the western sky on clear evenings until around 6 pm by the end of this month! So even as we move through what is typically the coldest part of winter in the next few weeks, our days are getting brighter. I know many of us can appreciate a little more light in our world these days.

Enjoy the brighter evenings.

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