If, like us, you’re getting sick of the dark nights and what feels like the longest January on record, you’ll be glad to hear there’s light at the end of the tunnel. And we’re here to give you the dates that matter to help you through those gloomy days. With our ever-cloud mentality, we can confirm that the shortest day of the year has been and gone, and although it might not feel like it, the days are slowly getting longer. It won’t be long before those much-loved 8pm sunsets return to Yorkshire.
It may feel like you’re heading to work in the dark and coming home in the dark right now, but each day that balance is shifting. This year, the clocks will change for British Summer Time on 29 March — a day earlier than in 2025 — bringing brighter evenings ever closer.
Before we know it, we’ll be back in beer gardens and lingering outside to catch Yorkshire sunsets. But when exactly should you start counting down? In just 131 days, the sun will set after 8pm once again. The latest sunset of the year falls on 24 or 25 June.
The tradition of putting the clocks forward in spring was first introduced in 1916. Proposed by American inventor Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and later explored in a pamphlet titled The Waste of Daylight by British writer William Willett in 1907. Germany became the first country to introduce daylight saving time, and the UK followed.
If you need a little help getting through winter, here are some key dates to look out for, according to Secret London:
- 21 Jan: First 4:30pm sunset
- 7 Feb: First 5pm sunset
- 13 Mar: First sunset after 6pm
- 18 Mar: More daylight than darkness
- 29 Mar: Clocks go forward (BST)
- 17 Apr: First 8pm sunset
- 26 May: First sunset after 9pm
- 21 Jun: Summer solstice (longest day)
Read More: 10 Of The Best Places In Yorkshire To See Snowdrops This Winter
