Surprise! All of the U.S. Has Already Experienced Its Earliest Sunset. Nope, It’s Not on the Winter Solstice
This time of year, we’re all grumbling about the days getting shorter. We leave for work in the dark and get home … in the dark. And it’s not easy to drag yourself out of bed on a cold morning—or get anything done when the sun sets before dinner.
To share a personal example: I’m writing this in New York in mid-December (aka ahead of the winter solstice), and the sun is already setting before five o’clock. It’s made me wonder: How can the sun possibly set any earlier? It’ll be, like, 3 o’clock!
Well, the good news is that the U.S. has already had its earliest sunset. That’s right—the earliest sunset doesn’t actually coincide with the winter solstice. Intrigued? I was too, so I called up Jack Drake, a meteorologist with CT Weather Center in Danbury, Connecticut, to hear more. As it turns out, this is one of those strange science phenomena that seem to make no sense, until you hear the “aha!” explanation. Read on to learn why the earliest sunset does not sync up with the winter solstice. This really explains a lot!
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What is the winter solstice?
The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. It occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, 2025, and marks the day when the sun is at its lowest—or southernmost—point in the sky. “The winter solstice is when we get the least amount of sunlight,” explains Drake. “It’s when the earth is tilted away from the sun the most.”
But you might be surprised to learn that the earliest sunsets come weeks before the solstice across most of the U.S. “ A lot of people don’t realize that,” Drake says. “Quite frankly, I didn’t even know that until I went to college for meteorology.”
Why doesn’t the earliest sunset align with the winter solstice?
The earliest sunset doesn’t happen on the winter solstice because solar time and our human version of time are slightly different. “They’re not completely synced,” Drake explains. This happens because the earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a perfect circle but rather a bit of an oval, or elliptical, shape. So a solar day—the period between solar noon, when the sun is at its highest point, and the next solar noon—isn’t precisely 24 hours. “It’s 24 hours and change,” Drake says.
Here’s how to understand this phenomenon: If we were orbiting in a perfect circle around the sun, the times would be the same, but we’re not. Instead, the earth moves in a little bit of an elliptical shape. “So when you’re a little farther away from the sun or a little closer to the sun,” he says, “the day length is actually gonna be slightly different.”
Emphasis on slightly. You see, the deviation between solar time and our man-made time is a matter of seconds. But seconds add up.
And while we’re nailing down fascinating weather facts, consider this: The earth is actually closer to the sun in winter, when it’s coldest in the northern hemisphere, than it is in summer. Yes, that’s a real fact. “ The closest earth actually gets to the sun is in early January,” Drake says. “ When people hear that, they’re like, ‘What? I thought we’d be closer to the sun when it’s warmer out!’ But it’s about the tilt. We just happen to be tilted away from the sun at the same time that we’re closest.”
When were the earliest sunsets?
The exact date and time of the earliest sunset varies, depending on where you live. The earliest sunsets happen as early as late November in southern latitudes, while they’re in the first two weeks of December in northern parts of the U.S., and on Dec. 17 for Alaska. Here are the earliest sunsets in six U.S. cities. Not near one of those cities? You can find the earliest sunset times in your region—and also learn when to catch gorgeous sunsets year-round.
Austin
Earliest sunset
Dec. 2
5:31 p.m.
Los Angeles
Earliest sunset
Dec. 4
4:44 p.m.
Miami
Earliest sunset
Nov. 29
5:30.31 p.m.
Minneapolis
Earliest sunset
Dec. 9
4:43.12 p.m.
New York
Earliest sunset
Dec. 8
4:30.04 p.m.
Salt Lake City
Earliest sunset
Dec. 8
5:01.28 p.m.
When will the latest sunrises occur?
The latest sunrise happens after the winter solstice because of the earth’s elliptical orbit. So sunrises don’t start moving earlier until about two weeks after the winter solstice. Here are the latest sunrises for six U.S. cities. All you have to do is make it past these dates, and your days of getting dressed for work in the dark will be a thing of the past—well, at least until next year.
Austin
Latest sunrise
Jan. 9, 2026
7:27.03 a.m.
Los Angeles
Latest sunrise
Jan. 7, 2026
6:57.44 a.m.
Miami
Latest sunrise
Jan. 13, 2026
7:07.51 p.m.
Minneapolis
Latest sunrise
Jan. 2, 2026
7:49.29 a.m.
New York
Latest sunrise
Jan. 4, 2026
7:18.34 a.m.
Salt Lake City
Latest sunrise
Jan. 4, 2026
7:50.15 a.m.
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Sources:
- Jack Drake, Danbury, Connecticut–based meteorologist with CT Weather Center; phone interview, Dec. 16, 2025
- NASA: “Tropical Solstice Shadows”
- National Weather Service: “The Seasons (Equinoxes and Solstices)”
- Astronomical Applications Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory: “Sunrise and Sunset Times Near the Solstices”
- Sunrise-sunset.org: “Sunrise and Sunset Times in the United States”
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