Chicago will see its earliest sunset of 2022 on Thursday

Winter will not officially begin until the winter solstice on Dec. 21, but the earliest sunset of the year will occur two weeks sooner on Dec. 8, according to astronomers. 

The sun will set Thursday before the average workday ends, at exactly 4:21 p.m., as reported by the website Time and Date. The sun will then set later each day moving forward. It will take more than a week for this change to become noticeable by a minute. 

The winter solstice marks the least sunny day of the year and coincides with the first day of winter. 

This year’s winter solstice will take place shortly before 4 p.m. This means Chicago will have about nine hours and 11 minutes of sunlight on this day. From then on, the days will become longer. Chicago will eventually get over 10 hours of sunlight on Jan. 30., according to Time and Date.

While the sun will set increasingly later, so will the sunrise, up until Jan 3. at 7:16 am. This combination of late sunrises and later sunsets will help the city gradually see more sunlight.