We switched to summer time on the night of Saturday March 30 to Sunday March 31, losing an hour of sleep. But what time does the sun rise and set at your place now? Find out with our interactive module.
During the night of Saturday March 30 to Sunday March 31, we lost an hour of sleep with the switch to summer time. Surely good news for children eager to find chocolate Easter eggs. For others, it will take a few days to a few weeks to get used to this new rhythm.
It is those who have a morning chronotype, that is to say those who tend to be more efficient in the morning, who will get used to the time change most quickly, as indicated by Inserm in 2022. The adaptation can be done in a few days. For late chronotypes, those who tend to be more effective in the evening, this can take up to several months.
With the time change, the sun rises on March 31 at 7:11 a.m. in Strasbourg, 7:16 a.m. in Épinal, or even 7:25 a.m. in Reims. Sunset occurs at 7:59 p.m. in Mulhouse, 8:08 p.m. in Verdun or 8:11 p.m. in Charleville-Mézières.
Because in addition to varying throughout the seasons, the time of sunrise and sunset differs depending on geographic location. Find out in the infographic below what the situation is for the most populated cities in each department of the Grand Est region. Our data comes from from the ephemeris calculation service from the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (IMCCE).
Day length changes with the seasons because the Earth rotates around an axis that is tilted relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. This tilt of the earth’s axis creates the solstices and equinoxes.
The solstice corresponds to the time of year when the Sun is farthest from the equatorial plane. There are two solstices per year, the summer solstice and the winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere, the first takes place around June 21 and corresponds to the longest day of the year, the second takes place around December 21 and marks the shortest day of the year. After the summer solstice, day length begins to decrease. After the winter solstice, it’s the opposite, the days get longer.
The equinox is when the sun is directly above the Earth’s equator. There are two equinoxes per year: spring and autumn. The first takes place around March 20 or 21 in the northern hemisphere, the second takes place around September 22 or 23. During the equinoxes, there is as much day as night.
On March 31, the length of the day is approaching 13 consecutive hours in the Grand Est. At the time of the summer solstice, the length of the day will be at its maximum and will exceed 16 consecutive hours.
