The long summer evenings are quickly coming to an end
Published: Friday, Jul 26th 2024, 15:00
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The long summer evenings are now rapidly coming to an end. The reason for this is that the sun is reaching its noon point earlier every day, meaning that the evenings are quickly becoming shorter. Since Friday, the sun seems to be getting faster as a result.
After the longest day, it remains light in the evening for almost a month, as the weather service SRF Meteo announced on Friday. In Bern, sunset was at 21:28 on this year's longest day, June 20. On July 26, the sun disappeared behind the horizon at 9.09 pm.
But that's the end of it. On August 31, the sun sets at 8.11 pm. In these 36 days, the evening will be 58 minutes shorter. However, in the same period between the longest day and July 26, the evening was only 19 minutes shorter.
As SRF Meteo explained, the phenomenon can be explained by the Earth's orbit. Until July 25, the sun reaches its highest point, the noon point, later and later. On Friday, this turned around and so the sun is once again at the highest point of its daily orbit earlier in the day.
Behind timetable in midsummer
On average, the sun is at its highest position in Bern at 12.30 p.m., with summer time at 1.30 p.m.. In midsummer, however, it lags behind its schedule according to SRF Meteo.
On the longest day, June 21, it reaches its zenith at 1.32 pm (summer time) and currently at 1.36 pm. With the turning point on Friday, it now reaches its highest point earlier again. The earliest noon falls in late fall. On November 2, this will be the case in Bern at 12.13 p.m., 23 minutes earlier than at present.
As a result, the evenings quickly become shorter because, on the one hand, the length of the day decreases and, on the other, the sun reaches midday earlier and earlier.
The process is reversed in the morning. The shorter day length does not have such a strong effect in the morning, as the sun is on its way earlier. If the sun sets 58 minutes earlier on August 31, sunrise is only delayed by 46 minutes.
This is due to the Earth's elliptical orbit. At the beginning of July, the Earth is at its furthest point from the sun, even if it is summer in the northern hemisphere.
©Keystone/SDA
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