One of the best parts of summer are the long days and the sun setting later. As we say goodbye to summer and get further into fall, you might notice the days are getting darker a little sooner. How long can we continue to enjoy more hours of daylight than darkness? 

For us here in New Jersey, our sunset on Friday, Sept. 13 will occur at 7:08 p.m. Sunsets are getting a bit earlier as we approach the fall equinox, which is only 10 days away. Our last sunset after 7 p.m. will happen on Sept. 17, with the sun setting at 7:01 p.m. We will see sunsets in the 6 p.m. hour until the week before Halloween, which gives us sufficient time to enjoy daylight hours.  

Not only are the sunsets getting earlier, but the sunrises are getting later. This gradually reduces the hours of daylight we have within a day. Sept.13 has 12 hours and 32 minutes of daylight, while Oct. 25, the last day of after-6 p.m. sunsets has 10 hours and 41 minutes. Daylight Saving Time ends shortly thereafter bringing us back to Eastern Standard Time. 

We can rejoice in one thing as we approach the time change: the return to Eastern Standard Time allows us one extra hour of sleep. Or one extra hour to dedicate to changing the time on the oven, microwave and in your car. 

On the bright side, we still have 100 days until the shortest daylight day of the year, the winter solstice.

Then our days will start getting longer, instead of getting shorter!