when will it start getting dark later

It starts getting dark later just after the winter solstice, but how quickly you notice depends a lot on your location and local sunset times.

Key idea

• In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night happen at the winter solstice, around 21–22 December each year.

• After that date, the days begin to lengthen again, so sunset slowly shifts later and it starts getting dark later in the afternoon and early evening.

Why it feels confusing

• The earliest sunset actually occurs a little before the solstice (often in the first half of December at mid‑northern latitudes), so by late December many places already see sunset times creeping later, even though overall daylight is still near its minimum.

• Around and just after the solstice, sunrise also keeps getting later for a few weeks, which can make mornings feel darker for longer even while evenings are very gradually improving.

Rough rule of thumb

• If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you can expect to start seeing noticeably later sunsets from late December into January; for many mid‑latitude locations, the “it’s finally not pitch dark so early” feeling usually kicks in sometime in January.

• In the Southern Hemisphere, everything is flipped: evenings start getting darker earlier just after the June solstice, and start getting lighter again after the December solstice.

How to check for your exact area

• Look up a sunrise/sunset calendar for your city (for example, through a weather site or time‑and‑date style service) and compare sunset times week by week; you will see when the sunset bottoms out and then begins moving later.

In short: it technically starts getting dark later right after your local winter solstice, but it becomes noticeably later over the next few weeks as sunset shifts later each day.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.