Expert: Tom Whiting - 11/26/2007

Question
Why does the sun set in Fla. later than in N.J.?

Answer
Hi Clifford,
When?  Now in November, or in June?  It's different. Local   Sunset time is based upon your location on the Earth's surface and season of the year...read that, where the sun is in our sky.  Right now, you are correct because Florida is farther south, and so is the sun, so the sun sets nearly an hour later in Florida now, compared to say, Newark, N.J.    But in May and June, the sun sets in Florida about 15 minutes earlier than New Jersey.  So it depends on your location and time of the year.  In our northern hemisphere winter months,  the sun is south of the equator, so southern states have more daylight.  In our northern Hemisphere summer months, the sun is north of the equator, so the farther north you are located, the more daylight time you have.  It all goes back to the Earth's 23.5 degree tilt of our axis from the vertical.

ALSO,
Why the big difference between 1 hour now in Florida and
only 15 minutes in New Jersey in June?  Because you, or your textbook, picked bad, non-equal examples of longitude....both states are not at the same longitude in the SAME eastern time zone.

The eastern time zone standard is at 75 W. Longitude, about the Delaware River...New Jersey is east of the Delaware river, whereas Florida is well west of the Delaware River, in fact, Florida is right on the western edge of the Eastern time zone.  In fact, part of the panhandle of Florida is actually in the Central Time Zone.  So it's not a very fair and equal comparison as both states are in different parts, different longitudes,  of the Eastern Time Zone, and that also affects what time of the day sunset occurs locally.   {The farther east you are located, the earlier your local sunset occurs}.
Most of Florida is at 82 West Longitude, whereas
N. Jersey is at 74 W. Longitude.....that's 8 degrees difference,
accounting for about 32 minutes delay of sunset in Florida,
compared to N. Jersey, all year long!.... just based upon differences in Longitude!
(It's 4  minutes of time of rotation  per degree of longitude
because the Earth rotates one degree eastward every 4 minutes) --
A very unfair comparison,  longitude wise.
Hope all this helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie PA