EDGEWATER — Though brutal winter months in Northern Illinois tend to incite dread, there is a redeeming side to the cold air and shortened daylight: sunsets.
"As we see the sun set, it's almost like snowflakes in a way, no one ever looks exactly the same," said Carl Erickson, a meteorologist with Accuweather. "This is when you'll see some of those more bright, more vivid, more intense sunsets."
While it's a common misconception that colorful sunsets might be a sign of pollution, Erickson said it's actually the cleaner, clearer air that sweeps through during the fall and winter that allows more light to scatter and produce "nicer sunsets" than during warmer months.
Hear Linze describe her adventures in sunset hunting.
In the summer, sunsets in urban areas like Chicago might in fact appear hazier, muted or more dull because of the high amount of different particles in the air.
The sun is also at a lower angle and closer to the horizon in the winter, producing a brighter snapshot of the sky.
"When the sun is high up in the sky, you see the blue sky," Erickson said. "But as that light is bent more through the atmosphere, as it sets, we get to see the reds and the oranges, those longer wavelengths."
The lower angle also means the sun itself takes a shorter time to set as opposed to the summer when it's higher in the sky — making a smaller window to catch the lit-up sky in all its glory.
Gilbert Sebenste, a meteorologist at Northern Illinois University, said sunsets in the winter run about 20 minutes shorter. An astronomer from Triton College told Chicago weatherman Tom Skilling last year the sunset process was roughly a half hour faster in the winter.
The transition from day to darkness occurs significantly earlier as well.
This year, the summer solstice on June 20 saw an 8:29 p.m. sunset, while the upcoming winter solstice on Dec. 21 is expected to see sundown by 4:23 p.m.
In case you can't catch one in time, check out our photos of winter sunsets in Chicago and Northern Illinois below.
Looking west on North Sheridan Road in Rogers Park around 4:15 p.m. late November. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Looking south on North Broadway in Edgewater around 4 p.m. in late-November. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
An office building near Peterson Park, reflecting the sunset to the west in early November [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
A rural road in DeKalb County, about an hour and 20 minutes west of Chicago in January. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Looking west on North Sheridan Road in Rogers Park around 4:15 p.m. late November. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
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