Daylight Saving Time Is Here: What Time Will The Sun Set In Seattle?

SEATTLE — Clocks “spring forward” Sunday for the beginning of daylight saving time, and that means an extra hour of sunshine at the end of the day for the next nine months. The sun will set at 7:10 p.m. Sunday evening in the Emerald City.

Although the switch to daylight saving time is often associated with the beginning of spring, the vernal equinox doesn't occur until Monday, March 20. By then, daytime will have surpassed 12 hours, drawing near to 13 hours by the end of the month.

Unless Congress changes things, daylight saving time will last from 2 a.m. Sunday, March 12, until 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 5 in 2023. Only two states — Hawaii and most of Arizona — have opted out of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated daylight saving time.

In Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation in 2019 to make daylight saving time permanent in the Evergreen State, but enacting it hinges on whether Congress approves and President Joe Biden signs the Sunshine Protection Act, which provides for year-round daylight saving time. The Senate passed it a year ago, and a similar resolution was introduced in the House, where some representatives argued for year-round standard time.

The measure didn’t make it out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and with reshuffled leadership in that chamber, it remains unclear if Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Washington Republican who now chairs the committee, will bring up the Senate bill for debate.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray cosponsored the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act and following the bill's Senate passage last year urged her House colleagues to take action.

"No more dark afternoons in the winter," Murray said. "No more losing an hour of sleep every spring. We want more sunshine during our most productive waking hours. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Americans want more sunshine and less depression—people in this country, all the way from Seattle to Miami, want the Sunshine Protection Act."

The Time Act could be changed to allow for year-round daylight saving time, as legislation passed in the Senate last year provides. Or it could eliminate it all together in favor of year-round standard time, as some representatives in the House have suggested. The Sunshine Protection Act hasn’t budged since the Senate passed it, though.