Hudson Valley Celebrates Earliest Sunset of the Year This Week

Those long, dark evenings are beginning to disappear already, but Hudson Valley residents shouldn't celebrate just yet.

If it felt like it was getting dark even earlier than usual this week, you are not imagining things. The Hudson Valley just slipped past the earliest sunset of the year, which means the evenings will slowly start getting brighter from now until spring.

That is good news for anyone who has been walking out of work at 4:30 and wondering why it feels like midnight. Little by little, sunset is inching later each night, giving us a tiny morale boost during a season that many of us are already sick of.

It's Not Even Winter Yet

Even though we have turned the corner on sunset times, we are still losing daylight overall until the solstice ushers in the winter season on December 21. That is the moment the Northern Hemisphere tilts as far from the sun as it will all year. After that, both sunrise and sunset start drifting in our favor.

So for now, mornings will keep getting a bit darker, even as evenings start to brighten up, but we'll take any victory we can get.

Hudson Valley Residents Dislike Time Change

If you dread this time of year, you are in good company. Plenty of people here admit that the early sunsets mess with their sense of time, their motivation and sometimes their mood. You are not alone if you've already given in and started popping on those pajama pants when you walk in the door at the end of the day.

While we've still got a long winter ahead of us, at least we can celebrate this small win. The earliest sunset is behind us, and the evenings will only get brighter from here.