As winter settles in, residents of Maryland can breathe a sigh of relief with the arrival of January.
The winter solstice, which occurred on December 21, marked the shortest day of the year, with Maryland experiencing only 9 hours and 24 minutes of daylight on that date.
Now that the solstice has passed, daylight will begin to increase significantly, with some regions in the U.S. gaining over an hour of sunlight by the end of January, as reported by AccuWeather.
AccuWeather forecasters noted, “Since the solstice, daylight has been gradually increasing while nights have been getting shorter. Initially, the daily change was just a few seconds, but as January progresses, the difference becomes more noticeable.”
By the end of January, Maryland is expected to gain approximately 40 minutes of additional sunlight, with the sun setting at 5:25 p.m. in the Baltimore area on January 31.
Nationally, by January 31, many areas in the southern United States will enjoy an increase of 20 to 30 minutes of daylight compared to the start of the month.
The change is even more pronounced in the northern regions, where some areas will see over an hour more daylight on the last day of January compared to the first.
As we look ahead, daylight will continue to extend until the spring equinox on March 20. This equinox signifies the moment when daylight begins to surpass nighttime, according to The Farmers’ Almanac.
On the equinox, the sun’s rays shine directly on the equator, resulting in nearly equal day and night lengths worldwide, each close to 12 hours.
Following the equinox, the sun’s rays will shift north of the equator, leading to longer daylight hours until the summer solstice. After this point, the sun’s rays will move south, causing days to shorten once again.
While daylight is increasing, it doesn’t automatically mean warmer temperatures.
AccuWeather experts explain, “The sun remains low in the sky, and its angle is still too weak to provide significant warmth. However, as daylight continues to grow in the coming months, the sun will rise higher, gradually increasing temperatures and heralding the approach of spring.”
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