Odd Facts About Portland's Last Sunset After 8 p.m. - Oregon / Washington Coast Catching Up

Published 8/25/24 at 6:45 a.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Manzanita, Oregon) – The final sunset after 8 p.m. just happened for one part of the Pacific Northwest, but it opens a whole box of unexpected weather and astronomy facts, trivia and numbers. (Above: Astoria, Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

Last night's sunset (Saturday) was the last one past 8 p.m. in Portland, Oregon, for more than half a year. Days continue getting shorter in the northern hemisphere and that means for Portland, tonight's sunset (Sunday) happens at 7:09 p.m.

There won't be another after 8 p.m. until April 17, 2025.

Saturday's sunset time in Portland was at 8:01, but on the Oregon coast and Washington coast it's always a bit later because it's further west. That means the coastline – and even places farther north like Seattle – still have to catch up to that astronomical dividing point that just hit the Rose City.

Seattle's sunset happens at 8:02 this evening, but out on the Washington coast, Westport has one of the latest in the Pacific Northwest at 8:07 p.m.

Seaside

On the Oregon coast, Manzanita is six minutes later than Portland at 8:05 p.m., and Bandon is at 8:03. Of course, sunrise is later in those areas as well.

Sunrise is getting later – period. That's just part of the move into fall. All this continues until the big winter solstice on December 21, which is the shortest day of the year. Currently, we're still dealing with about 13 hours of daylight, however.

Coos Bay / Oregon's Adventure Coast photo

The rate by which we lose hours of daylight increases as well. Look at a sunset / sunrise time for Portland or anywhere in the PNW and you'll notice that even just in August, we started out losing about 2 minutes and 40 seconds of daylight each day. That rate gets a little larger every day. Now, on the 25th of August, it's at about -2:53 minutes less daylight. Later in September it'll get to just over -3 minutes each day, and then the rate starts to back off in October.

Sunset times are always given by a point of view of no barriers between you and the horizon. That means for downtown Portland and much of SE, the West Hills block that view and sunset's last rays are seen markedly earlier.

Jim Todd, astronomy expert with Portland's OMSI, explained.

“They are talking about the true horizon, where it is zero degrees,” Todd said.

So, you are literally going to find a later sunset on the coastline than in the big city – maybe by a half hour or more at times, depending on what's blocking it.

Gearhart

Next up is the fall equinox on September 22, where daylight and nighttime hours are – supposedly – equal. Yet they are not around here, due to our latitude and a curious effect of the atmosphere.

Jim Todd, astronomy expert with Portland's OMSI, said the 45th parallel helps plot out the equinox in an interesting manner. It runs very close to Cascade Head on the central Oregon coast and between Portland and Salem.

“At the 45th latitude North, the time it takes for the sun to fully rise and set, which is several minutes, is added to the day and subtracted from the night, and therefore the equinox day lasts a little longer than 12 hours,” Todd said. “Another reason why the day is longer than 12 hours on an equinox is that the Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight.”

This is where it gets weird:

That refraction is amazing. It turns out we're not seeing sundown exactly when it happens. Sunset and sunrise are just projections through the atmosphere. You see sunset about two minutes after it actually went down. Sunrise is about the same time frame as well.

Astronomer Neil deGrasse-Tyson put it best:

See Washington Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Weather

“That sun – it's not really there,” Tyson said. “It won't actually be above the horizon for another two minutes. Sunrise is an illusion. Earth's atmosphere bends the incoming rays, like a lens or a glass of water. So we see the image of the sun projected above the horizon before the physical sun is actually there.”

Add to that the time it takes for sunlight to reach Earth – 8 minutes – and you have a whole other odd aspect. That's another story.

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