Earlier sunsets...a sign of the times that summer is coming to an end! The sun set at 9 p.m. for the last time today (Sunday), August 3 in Grand Rapids.
Our longest day of the year is the summer solstice, which happened on Friday, June 29. The sun rose at 6:03 a.m. and set at 9:25 p.m. that day, for a total of 15 hours, 21 minutes and 27 seconds of daylight. Since then, the days have slowly been getting shorter little by little each day.
Today, the sun rose at 6:36 a.m. and set at 9:00 p.m. During the month of August, we lose around 2 minutes and 20 seconds of daylight every day. That accounts for both the earlier sunsets and later sunrises.
Check out how much earlier the sun will be setting deeper into August. By August 31, sunset is 8:18 p.m. Sunrise/sunset times will vary by a few minutes for towns east or west of Grand Rapids, but the total amount of daylight will be the same.
Days continue to get shorter until the winter solstice on December 21, which is our shortest day of the year. The sun will rise at 8:10 a.m. and set at 5:11 p.m. for a total of only 9 hours of daylight!
Even as the days get shorter, our temperatures don't necessarily get significantly cooler. August is the second-warmest month for West Michigan, with an average high of 80.9 degrees. July is the hottest month statistically, with an average high of 83.1 degrees.
The average high in Grand Rapids in July was 85.2 degrees, 2.2 degrees warmer than average. Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Holland all had average highs in July at least 1 degree warmer than the climatological average.
Holland ended up 3 degrees warmer than average, likely in part due to how dry the month was. Dry air and dry soil heat up faster than humid air and moist soil, and this past June and July was the driest on record in Holland.
This coming week will be near to a few degrees above average, and the warm weather doesn't look to leave any time soon. Confidence is high that the Great Lakes region will be warmer than average through around halfway through August. Darker red colors indicate higher confidence levels in the forecast temperatures.
For the latest details on the weather in West Michigan, head to the FOX 17 Weather page.
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