Now that the Summer Solstice has passed, the Inland Northwest will continue to lose precious minutes of sunlight each day until the Winter Solstice in December.
Friday, Aug. 16, will bring the final sunset in the 8:00 hour until 2020.
The sunset on Friday will take place at 8:01 p.m. followed by a sunset at 7:58 p.m. on Saturday, August 17.
Spokane has lost between two and three minutes of sunlight each day since June 21. By the end of this week, those precious minutes will add up to a total day length of 14 hours and 13 minutes -- more than 1.5 hours shorter than what we saw in late June.
By late December, we will say goodbye to even 4 p.m. sunsets, with the sun leaving us as early as 3:57 p.m. Around that time, our day length will shorten to a measly eight hours and 25 minutes.
Because of our high latitude, the Northwest sees more dramatic changes in day length between the summer and winter compared to latitudes closer to the equator. The next time the Inland Northwest will see a sunset at 8 p.m. or later is April 29, 2020.