BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — We’re almost into September now, and before you know it, the leaves will be changing color, as the temperatures start to drop and the days grow shorter.
One thing stands out about September, unlike August, and that is how rapidly we lose daylight. So the question is — why does September have the biggest decline in daylight?
On September 1, Buffalo's sunset takes place at 7:49 p.m. but by the end of the month, the sunset takes place before 7 p.m. That's a loss of more than two and a half minutes per day.
Our loss of daylight in September is strictly based on latitude. The further north one goes in the continental U.S., the more dramatic the losses and gains in daylight become.
Further to the north along the U.S.-Canada border, some people will lose at least 100 minutes of daylight in September, while areas further south, will lose a solid 40-45 minutes throughout September.
So why does the speed of daylight loss change? It all has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis, which is at about 23.5 degrees relative to its orbital plane. The path of the sun through the daytime sky goes from nearly perpendicular and straight overhead near the Equinox to being far from being perpendicular and far from being overhead near the solstice, as the Earth orbits the Sun. This is due to the tilt of the Earth's axis, combined with its revolution around the Sun.
So when we approach both the spring and the autumnal equinox, those two periods will feature the biggest gain and loss in the amount of daily daylight.
Got a weather question that you’d like answered? E-mail me at weather@wkbw.com, and your question could be the subject of Josh’s Weather Academy.
