PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After a sunny weekend, Portlanders seem to be itching for longer days.
The sunrise is gradually coming earlier and sunset is slowly pushing back later, but KOIN Meteorologist Joseph Dames said it still might be a while before most people can enjoy their evening commute in the daylight.
“Out here in Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, I mean, we love, you know, commuting to work on bikes. We’ll love doing all those things. So yeah, people are so interested [in longer days] right now,” he said.
As of Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, the sunrise in Portland is at 7:44 a.m. and sunset is 4:56 p.m.
In just a few days, on Jan. 20, Dames said the sunset time will finally reach 5 p.m.
Since winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, Portland has gained 28 minutes of daylight and the city is now enjoying 9 hours and 10 minutes of daytime.
In a month, that amount will increase by 1 hour and 20 minutes. While this is something for people to look forward to, Dames said March is an even more exciting time.
“It really gets fun in March because in March we extend the sunset to 6 p.m. and then we spring forward. So, then our sunset time ends up being after 7 p.m. So, we end up getting like 11 to 12 hours of day length by the time we get to March,” he explained.
Dames said he knows a lot of people are tired of the darkness in Portland, but said in just a couple months, things will change drastically and people can take advantage of the brighter mornings and evenings.