(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Summer is in full swing right now with lots of sunshine, but we are at that time of year where we are losing daylight every day.

On June 20, we reached the summer solstice. The summer solstice occurs when the Northern Hemisphere, where we are, is closest to the sun, which makes the sun appear at its highest point in the sky. During that time, we see the longest day of the year. However, after the summer solstice, we see a decrease in daylight hours until the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice will be on the Dec. 21 this year.

So that means, from now until December, we will lose 2 to 3 minutes of sunlight every day. So for example, on Monday we see 14 hours and 7 minutes of daylight. On Tuesday, we see 14 hours and 5 mins of daylight.

What does that mean for our sunset times? Through September, it will be daylight by 6 p.m. but in the next two months it will be dark by 6 p.m.