Sunset (and Sunrise) times

fennellkevin · Senior Member

Sunset (and Sunrise) times

Melissa5 · Guru

Kevin, wow, you are a thorough planner! I've never seen such a collection of thorough trip planners as I've found on Michelle's site. I never thought to check what time the sun rises and sets in Ireland.

My advice is don't try to cram in too much. The fewer one-night stays, the better. (I confess to having a 1-night stay in Siena in Italy, because I fell in love with photos and descriptions and couldn't fit in more than 1 night there. It was fabulous! Romantic, medieval...atmospheric...) But I lessened the stress of a 1-night stay by having us NOT have to drive. We had a driver to and from Siena.

I am the ignorant person who hasn't been to Ireland yet (planning my first trip for next July) but am eager to advise people anyway. Just thought I'd remind you!

fennellkevin · Senior Member

Thanks Melissa.

If I make the change I'm thinking of, I'll only have one single-night stay. The others are all 3.

I still wish to know if this (sunset) info is correct.

Kevin

Michele Erdvig · Host

Kevin,

At the end of April it can still be light out then because twilight usually lingers after sunset unless it is a very rainy or overcast day.

Here is a link to general sunrise/sunset times: http://www.iol.ie/~discover/sunrise.htm

If you want much better info go to my "Weather" page. Click on any of the boxes around the map of Ireland for specific info on the city of your choice. Once on the page for a specific city you can view past history for any date and it will give you extremely detailed info. Sunset is usually 30 minutes later on the west coast than the east coast.

Michele

Maggie L · Senior Member

Kevin,

I was there in April last year and it was dark long before 10:30 --- more like 8:30 -9:00. It stayed light until about 10:30 when I was there in July of '04 --- that was great (or should I say "brilliant"?) !!

Maggie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

It does depend on when in April. Near the end of the month the days are much longer than at the beginning. And of course, weather does make a big difference. A dull day seems to fade fast. If you go to the weather site you will find all sorts of scientific jargon for sunset like civil twilight, nautical twilight & astronomical twilight. Don't ask me what those are because I'm not an astronomer.

Michele

Maggie L · Senior Member

Michelle, you're right, of course --- there's a big difference between the beginning and end of April (about 50 minutes!!). You can add roughly 4 minutes of daylight to each day --- 2 minutes at sunrise and almost 2 minutes at sunset. I was there in the middle of April (12th-24th).

The civil, nautical & astronomical twilights are based on how many degrees the sun is below the horizon (6, 12 and 18 degrees respectively). Civil twilight you can still make out most objects; nautical you may be able to make out some but not all shapes; astronomical you really can't see anything.

See, I told you I was a fountain of useless trivia!! (It's partly because over the years I taught so many different classes: general science [including astronomy], English, and theatre arts. Weird combination, I know )

Maggie

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

Thanks -- I never knew all that! It sounds like most people would be interested in civil twilight. Enough light left to find a B&B.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Hopefully this pic will come through -- this was the view from our B&B on the Isle of Skye (OK, that's Scotland, not Ireland!) in August on our visit there. The first picture was at 10:30pm, and the light was still taking longer. I think the sky finally darkened about 11:30. The second pic was in the morning, around 8am, same window.

Maggie L · Senior Member

Michele,

First, sorry for the times I've misspelled your name; I'll try to be more careful.

Most of the info is stuff nobody would care about, but sometimes it's kind of fun to know odd tidbits. For example, I really was interested in the beer/ale/lager explanation on another post ---I have never understood all that.

And yeah, I think civil twilight (I have no idea how they chose the terminology) is what matters most because people want to know how late they can safely drive those country roads or wander around and still see things. That's why summer is so great over there --- it stayed light a lot later than it ever does here in Michigan. In mid-July it was light until at least 10:30!

Maggie

Melissa5 · Guru

Green Dragon, seeing the picture of Scotland still nearing sunset at 10:30 pm really helps me imagine what Ireland will be like. Thanks for posting that!

Maggie L, I bet you are a fascinating teacher.

Kevin, I don't think you could have gone anywhere else and gotten this much detail in answer to your question about what time it gets dark in Ireland! I hope this all helps you make your decisions. good luck.

fennellkevin · Senior Member

Thanks everybody!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maggie,

Don't worry about misspellling my name. Everyone does! Where else can you find out everything you never wanted to know about sunrise and sunset in Ireland? That's what makes this forum fun. We never know what we will learn.

Michele