While Tampa Bay sees its first 6 p.m. sunset of the year, parts of northern Alaska will soon see their first sunrise and sunset of 2021. 

What You Need To Know

  • Tampa's first 6 p.m. sunset of 2021 arrived on Jan. 19

  • The sun will not set before 6 p.m. until November 7

  • Daylight decreases as you go farther north

  • Utqiagvik, Alaska hasn't seen a sunset since November 18

We can finally say goodbye to those early 5 p.m. sunsets and say hello to the 6 p.m. sunsets in Tampa Bay. It will be a while before Tampa sees another 5 p.m. sunset, not until November 7.

Our sunsets will continue to get later and later as we emerge from winter and head into summer. By mid-March, Tampa will begin to see 7 p.m. sunsets again. 

Tampa Bay spends most of its time in the dark this time of year. In fact, Tampa receives roughly 10.5 hrs of daylight this time of year. It will not be until we hit the the vernal equinox in March that Tampa spends most of its time in daylight. The vernal equinox will take place on March 20 and that's when the Northern Hemisphere starts receiving more than 12 hours of daylight. 

Until then, the Northern Hemisphere receives less than 12 hours of daylight per day. The length of daylight varies greatly with latitude, ranging from nearly 12 hours by the equator to no daylight at all over the poles. 

If you prefer days with more daylight, this is the time of year to live further south such as in Tampa Bay where we get about 10.5 hours of daylight per day this time of year. Cities such as Tampa receive an hour more of daylight per day this time of year compared to cities farther north such as Boston, Massachusetts. 

Boston, Mass. has one of the earliest sunsets anywhere in the Lower 48 which is partly due to its latitude and position within the Eastern time zone. Boston, Mass. and Cleveland, Ohio are both located within the same time zone but Boston is farther east. Therefore, the sun sets much earlier in Boston (4:43 p.m.) than in Cleveland (5:28 p.m.). 

Can you imagine living in northern Alaska this time of year? The town of Utquiavik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, hasn't seen a sunset since November 18! It has been dark ever since, but on Friday, January 22, the sun will make its first appearance of 2021.

The sun will reappear at 1:16 p.m. in Utquiavik that day before setting at 2:02 p.m. That means this community will only see 46 minutes of sunlight. So, while Tampa Bay sees its first 6 p.m. sunset of 2021, the residents of Utquiavik will see its first sunset of the year.

Even if that sounds depressing now, Utquiagvik will be glistening under 24 hours of sunlight when we near the summer solstice in June.