PORTLAND, Ore. — It was great while we had it, but those long summer days are well behind us for the rest of the year!

Until days start getting longer next spring, Portland's last 7 p.m. sunset will be on Sept. 25. In a spooky coincidence, our last 6 p.m. sunset will fall just shy of Halloween on Oct. 29. Then, on Nov. 2, the sun will set before 5 p.m. as Daylight Savings Time comes to an end.

Days have been getting shorter in the northern hemisphere since the summer solstice — June 20 and 21 — when the northern half of the Earth started tilting away from the sun. But it's September and October where we really start to see the change.

"If you plotted day length over the year, it would form a smooth wave, with the steepest changes around the spring and fall equinoxes and the flattest p

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