The days are the shortest in the Chicago area this year, but when will we eventually get more daylight and not have to travel home in the dark?
In summary, the first section won’t take long to complete, but the second half will still require some time.
The sun has already set earlier in the Chicago region this year; starting on Friday, when the sunset hour changes from 4:19 p.m. to 4:20 p.m., the sun will set substantially later.
Days are officially getting shorter even if the sunset time has changed because through the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21, the area will lose slightly less than 30 seconds of daylight each day.
Chicago will have not much less than nine hours and eight minutes of daylight on that particular date, but things won’t get much better even after the solstice. For instance, experts estimate that the region will receive less than one second of daylight on December 22.
The days will over time get longer, but it won’t be until January that you’ll see an obvious distinction. The Chicago region will be experiencing sunsets after 5 p.m. by January 28 at the latest. A few days later, the city will experience more than 10 hours of daylight for the first time since Nov. 10, 2023.