Dear Tom,
Where is the latest sunset in the continental U.S. in summer? It must be in the northwest corner of one of the time zones.
Bob Brasser
Dear Bob,
The latest sunset does indeed occur at the northwest corner of a U.S. time zone. In the eastern time zone the latest sunset is at the NW corner of Ontonagon County, Mich., when the sun sets at 9:57 p.m. EDT June 24 (all latest sunsets occur about June 24). In the central time zone, the sun sets in the NW corner of North Dakota at 10:04 p.m. CDT, while in the mountain time zone, it occurs in the NW corner of Montana at 9:52 p.m. MDT. Finally in the Pacific time zone, the latest sunset occurs in the NW tip of Washington at Cape Flattery at 9:24 p.m.
So the central time zone wins, but if you step across the Montana border into Canada at the SW corner of Saskatchewan, the sun will set at 10:28 p.m. CDT.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
