How long is the day?
Day length is the time between sunrise and sunset. It changes through the year: longest around your summer solstice, shortest around the winter solstice, and the swing grows the further you live from the equator. On the equinoxes the day is close to 12 hours almost everywhere.
See day length for your city
Every city page shows today's dawn, sunrise, solar noon, golden hour, sunset and dusk in local time.
Why the day gets longer and shorter
Earth's axis is tilted about 23.4 degrees. As the planet orbits the Sun, that tilt points each hemisphere toward the Sun for part of the year and away for the rest. When your hemisphere leans toward the Sun, the Sun climbs higher and stays above the horizon longer, so the day lengthens; half a year later it does the opposite.
The effect is small near the equator, where every day stays close to 12 hours all year, and enormous near the poles, where summer brings weeks of midnight sun and winter brings weeks with no sunrise at all.
The longest and shortest days
The longest day falls on the summer solstice (around 21 June in the northern hemisphere, 21 December in the southern) and the shortest on the winter solstice. Day length changes fastest around the equinoxes in March and September, when many places gain or lose two to three minutes of daylight per day.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the day today?
Day length is the gap between today's sunrise and sunset. Open your city to see today's exact figure and how it changes across the year.
Why does day length change through the year?
Because Earth's axis is tilted, each hemisphere leans toward or away from the Sun as the planet orbits, lengthening or shortening the day. The change is largest far from the equator.
Where is the day longest?
On any given day, toward the summer pole. Around the June solstice the far northern hemisphere sees the longest days, including 24-hour midnight sun above the Arctic Circle.
What is the longest day of the year?
The summer solstice: around 21 June in the northern hemisphere and 21 December in the southern hemisphere. It has the most daylight of any day.