rumrunn6

So what can you commuters from the US North East tell me about available daylight. I notice that the mornings are fairly light - so If I considered a few more cold weather commutes before the severe cold and snow sets in I think I do the morning commute in daylight. The evening commutes at 6:00 pm are dead dark - no light in the sky at all so I know, even at 4:00 pm I'd be working on active lighting and reflectivity issues.

But my question is does anyone have a log of when the ride home 4:00 - 6:00 pm starts to lighten up? And or when the morning ride in 7:00 -8:00 am become dead dark with no sky light.

I'm sure there must be a smarter way to ask these questions - but it'll have to wait until later when I read this and says to myself WHAT?!

Also - what is with the website - slow or what?

aharris

What time do you consider it "lighten up"? You could use that time compared current sunset and then get table of sunset times. Or you could spend a few hours playing with a great (free) program called Stellarium. (https://stellarium.org/ ) set it for your location and zoom ahead in time. I noticed yesterday it got dark well before "dark" with the storm clouds coming in but I had lights on already so it wasn't an issue.

tsl

Or for online, use the Sunrise, Sunset Calculator.

exile

I work overnights so my commute in is always dark. I get out at 8:30am and it is always light. I have a light setup for both bikes I commute on with multiple interchangeable front lights and taillights. Although everyone keeps talking about those Magicshines so once I save up enough they are next on my list.

nwmtnbkr

Days start to get slightly longer after the winter solstice, which is in late December, usually between Dec. 21-23. You might find this article by the US Naval Observatory entitled "The Dark Days of Winter" interesting. https://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astron...%20of%20Winter

jsmonet

it'll lighten post-solstice...then the idiotic DST system will throw itself into play 3-5 weeks too early and you'll have the same problem in the morning. brighter != warmer, btw.

you'll get plenty of use out of your lights

capejohn

Dec 23 you will begin to see an increase in daylight. It's about a minute and a half on each end daily. Between now and then however we lose around a minute and a half in the morning and evening.

That three minute daily thing has to do with the rotaion of the earth around the sun, and is the reason we need to have leap years. After four years of this we lose a full day (almost) and have to add one on Feb 29th.

"Almost" losing a day is the reason we skip leap year every two hundred years. We catch up.

lil brown bat

There's damn little, and will shortly be less, and won't be noticeably more until late February.

Let Me Google That For You

The answer to your question varies greatly -- "US North East" is still a pretty big area. I like the Naval Observatory site best (shows up second on that search, navy.mil). In general, though, you're probably looking at at least three months when you'll need lights for the AM or PM commute or both. It's prudent to have them, anyway -- dunno about your job, but at my job I can't be sure that I'll be out the door at 5 (in fact I can't remember the last time I was). Riding home in the dark because you didn't carry a small inexpensive piece of gear is just plain dumb.

cyccommute 

You can also get a list of sunrise/sunsets for anywhere on the planet from the US Naval Observatory here. You can plot out the sunrise and sunset in Excel and see the curves.

rumrunn6

it's dark, deal with it

thdave

Interestingly enough, it starts getting lighter in the afternoons on or about Dec. 11th, well before the winter solstice. The days still get shorter, but that's because the mornings are still getting darker by a greater number of minutes than the afternoons are getting lighter.

I left work at 5:30 yesterday and stopped to meet some people--got home at 6:30pm, in pitch black skies and a drizzle. It taxes the spirit, but I still prefer it to the steel cage.

ItsJustMe

I just ride regardless, though I prefer the dark.

The thing I try to avoid is riding when the sun is just over the horizon in front of me. Heck, *I* can barely see in those conditions, I get really worried when cars are approaching from behind directly into the sun. I keep a very close watch on them and prepare to ditch.

I usually shift my commute earlier to make it completely in the dark.

andrelam

Buy some lighting for your bike and add some reflective clothing and enjoy the ride! Now I don't worry about what time I need to leave Summer or Winter. you don't have to spend a fortune, but about $20 for a great rear blinky light, about $20 for a high-vis ANSI rated vest, and somewhere between $50 to $100 for descent front lighting. I won't go into what lights to get as there are plenty of threads on that subject. For around $140 at worst, and maybe around $60 if you are creative you can ride at night safely, by seeing the road and being seen by the other drivers.

Happy riding,
André

lshaped

when i lived in connecticut the daylight hours were something i just couldn't get used to
in january it felt like it was getting dark at 3pm- when i moved to michigan it was nice that in the summer
it would stay light out until closer to 10pm

rumrunn6

seriously thinking about a MiNewt Mini USB headlamp. very small and very light but it costs $100.

noglider 

One interesting thing you may notice in the sunrise/sunset calendar is that there are big differences from day to day around the equinoxes but very small differences around the solstices. So early February is only slightly more pleasant than the winter solstice, but early March is much nicer, because of daily changes.

Jim from Boston

I prefer the dark too. Muy commute is urban and suburban so there is plenty of ambient light and I use lights to be seen. When riding in the dark my thoughts turn inward more since there's less to observe. I call it cocooning, thought "swaddling" in the dark might be an equivalent term.

Also, if it's gloomy out., it's hard to tell.

lil brown bat

Um...aren't you the one who started this thread? Are you talking to yourself now?