The changing daylight hours thread

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Yes, the shorter daylight hours is certainly easily noticeable now. That, along with the first orb web of the season for me signifies the end of high summer. We are also half way through the school summer holidays.

I remember when I was at school, the hols really started to fly by from around this point onwards. Blink, and it's September.

[Row w]

The worst time for me is just after Christmas/new year time when up until March the darkness seems never ending, only upside is the possibility of snow and ice days but as much as I love the lighter nights and mornings once we get to September I start to look forward to the spookiness of Halloween and the clocks changing back and also the first frosts of the season

[damianslaw]

32 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

Yes, the shorter daylight hours is certainly easily noticeable now. That, along with the first orb web of the season for me signifies the end of high summer. We are also half way through the school summer holidays.

I remember when I was at school, the hols really started to fly by from around this point onwards. Blink, and it's September.

Yes didn't like the switch to second half of summer holidays.. everything changed in feel, you knew it was slipping out of your hands.. those last days of the holidays in particular always quite fraught with sense of what to come.. I always find the turn between August and September the most affecting of any turn of month all year in sense of marked change in a work sense.

[cheeky_monkey]

11 minutes ago, Row w said:

The worst time for me is just after Christmas/new year time when up until March the darkness seems never ending, 

This..only issue which makes it worse here is im the ar##se end of the time zone..hop across the border to British Columbia and the time zone changes by an hour which means morning daylight happens an hour earlier than here which makes a big difference in that Jan1st - Mar 31st darkness

Edited August 15, 2022 by cheeky_monkey

[Polar Maritime]

Dropping here already, Lights on in kitchen to cook tea..

[Row w]

Noticed a big difference in daylight hours this evening had the lights on by 8pm although I don't think it helped the fact it was the first cloudy day for about a week, this warm sunny spell made a difference in when it started to drop 

[Sunny76]

2 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Yes didn't like the switch to second half of summer holidays.. everything changed in feel, you knew it was slipping out of your hands.. those last days of the holidays in particular always quite fraught with sense of what to come.. I always find the turn between August and September the most affecting of any turn of month all year in sense of marked change in a work sense.

This was something I noticed during the school holidays of 1987. 
 

July 1987 and I was leaving primary school for the last time, and we met the kids who would be at my new secondary school.

I wasn’t looking forward to going to the big school, but by mid August the sense of dread was creeping ever so closer.

Soundtracks to this late summer period were Rick Astley’s first song and Jacko’s love ballad, which has a melancholy feel of summer fading.

Those ‘back to school’ adverts always made me feel extra depressed about going back in September lol.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

1 hour ago, Row w said:

Noticed a big difference in daylight hours this evening had the lights on by 8pm although I don't think it helped the fact it was the first cloudy day for about a week, this warm sunny spell made a difference in when it started to drop 

I noticed this too! Last night and tonight. Sooo dark sooo early before 9! I hate this change. I love late evening walks and activities

[Sunny76]

8 hours ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

I noticed this too! Last night and tonight. Sooo dark sooo early before 9! I hate this change. I love late evening walks and activities

It’s still summer, but I feel the date change to September 1st signals the point of no return, and the inevitability of approaching autumn and winter.

[h2005__uk__]

21 hours ago, Ed Stone said:

That's why I've decided to stay on BST until the end of November: an hour of daylight, at least when I'm asleep, is as much use as fart in a lift; a very expensive fart at that!

At the risk of raising the usual BST debate, surely temporarily keeping BST until late Nov and bringing it back a month earlier next year would've been an easy win for the government in terms of helping people with energy bills?

Perhaps not a massive difference but surely worth a go. I don't think there's been any experiment with BST since the 70s either.

[Emz by the Thames]

9 hours ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

I noticed this too! Last night and tonight. Sooo dark sooo early before 9! I hate this change. I love late evening walks and activities

Me too, sometimes our evening walks don't start until 9pm in the summer...but now it's suddenly dark at that time - so depressing.

[Methuselah]

12 minutes ago, h2005__uk__ said:

At the risk of raising the usual BST debate, surely temporarily keeping BST until late Nov and bringing it back a month earlier next year would've been an easy win for the government in terms of helping people with energy bills?

Perhaps not a massive difference but surely worth a go. I don't think there's been any experiment with BST since the 70s either.

My thinking was only that, with an 'extra' hour of daylight in the afternoon/evening, for something like 2 months (I'd like to see BST start at the end of February) could save a lot of people a lot of money; on their lighting bills, if not their heating?

The other arguments, from both sides of the fence, are entirely subjective.

[Glaswegianblizzard]

Low cloud cover last night meant it seemed dark from before actual sunset around 9pm. That combined with the lower temps and forecasted rain for the next week or so makes it feel like the descent into autumn has started this week.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, Team Squirrel said:

Me too, sometimes our evening walks don't start until 9pm in the summer...but now it's suddenly dark at that time - so depressing.

Yes by mid August need to start eve walks earlier and be finished by 9 at latest, if want to maximise light.. by early Sept can be dark by 8pm when overcast. Long gone is the late May- late July lightness.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

1 hour ago, Team Squirrel said:

Me too, sometimes our evening walks don't start until 9pm in the summer...but now it's suddenly dark at that time - so depressing.

That's the best time to go! I love that last hour of light. It's magical!

[Slysi100]

I'm obviously the rare breed that actually loves the shortening days and that slow transition into autumn. I love the dark evenings. Must have been a vampire in a previous life

[damianslaw]

10 hours ago, Slysi100 said:

I'm obviously the rare breed that actually loves the shortening days and that slow transition into autumn. I love the dark evenings. Must have been a vampire in a previous life

It's a grounding and comforting feeling I guess, gone is the headiness and spontaniety of the lighter days that sets in during May, but ebbs away as we enter September. We tend to go into semi-hibernation state again, which is dialled to 10 once New Year arrives. September arrives and it's 'you've had your fun, now time to work again!'.. we cling onto the last vestiges of the summer, and have blow out Bank Holiday August, a last gasp before we hunker down again... re-emerging at Easter!

Edited August 16, 2022 by damianslaw

[Don]

12 hours ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

That's the best time to go! I love that last hour of light. It's magical!

Never mind, another 10 months and you will have that last hour of light again! 

 

[Dark Horse]

Looking forward to the longer darker days, colours on the trees (I think it'll be a good display this year), first frosts and snow. Noticing the sun hasn't got the same strength now compared to just a few weeks ago which is a sign summer is slowly ebbing away. Hallelujah.

[Cheshire Freeze]

12 hours ago, Slysi100 said:

I'm obviously the rare breed that actually loves the shortening days and that slow transition into autumn. I love the dark evenings. Must have been a vampire in a previous life

I love the dark evenings too. Something magical about the hallowe’en period when the clocks have just gone back.

As for the BST debate above, it’s just not feasible. Just before the clocks go back in late October, it’s getting towards 8am when it’s light up here…and it will be later further N. No way the commute to work and school will happen in semi darkness (it’d be gone half 8 before any sort of useable light in December).

Just before the clocks go back in October, sunrise is at 8.02 here. If we stayed on BST the sun wouldn't rise until 9.24am...

Edited August 16, 2022 by CreweCold

[Cheshire Freeze]

24 minutes ago, Dark Horse said:

Looking forward to the longer darker days, colours on the trees (I think it'll be a good display this year), first frosts and snow. Noticing the sun hasn't got the same strength now compared to just a few weeks ago which is a sign summer is slowly ebbing away. Hallelujah.

The sun has lost 10 degrees in altitude since mid July...so nowhere near as intense.

[Row w]

Sat here at going on 5:30 and very surprised how dark it still is, probably doesn't help the fact its cloudy and wet but a shock to the system considering a month ago it was light at this point and also how quickly it went dark yesterday evening, found myself having to put the lights on around 7:30pm

[Maz]

10 hours ago, CreweCold said:

I love the dark evenings too. Something magical about the hallowe’en period when the clocks have just gone back.

As for the BST debate above, it’s just not feasible. Just before the clocks go back in late October, it’s getting towards 8am when it’s light up here…and it will be later further N. No way the commute to work and school will happen in semi darkness (it’d be gone half 8 before any sort of useable light in December).

Just before the clocks go back in October, sunrise is at 8.02 here. If we stayed on BST the sun wouldn't rise until 9.24am...

Two months either side of the solstice, I agree, there is just not enough light.  Any change to one end of the day  takes away from the other end.  GMT works to give a bit of light for school kids going to school and coming home (except Scotland).  
 

However, IMHO,  21st Feb - end March, there would be a big benefit of returning to Summer time.  At the moment many people don’t benefit from the lighter mornings in March as they are asleep still, but being light 6-7pm would benefit almost everyone.

We use BST in the equivalent period in October, why not in March?

Edited August 17, 2022 by Maz

[StretfordEnd1996]

I wake up at around 6am but don't really draw open the blinds until 7am. 

 

This morning I woke up early to go to the loo at around 5:40 and it wasn't fully daylight yet. 

 

Losing 4 minutes of daylight a day, I think, at this time of year.

[damianslaw]

11 hours ago, CreweCold said:

I love the dark evenings too. Something magical about the hallowe’en period when the clocks have just gone back.

As for the BST debate above, it’s just not feasible. Just before the clocks go back in late October, it’s getting towards 8am when it’s light up here…and it will be later further N. No way the commute to work and school will happen in semi darkness (it’d be gone half 8 before any sort of useable light in December).

Just before the clocks go back in October, sunrise is at 8.02 here. If we stayed on BST the sun wouldn't rise until 9.24am...

Also dawn is typically coldest point in the day.. extra hazards from slow to clear ice and freezing fog.. which would last well into late morning.

Edited August 17, 2022 by damianslaw