ROCK HILL, S.C. â Through the school year, our sunrise time is a legitimate roller coaster. To show you how the times change, we are using Rock Hill's sunrise time -- but this time only differs by a minute or two across the Charlotte area.
Sunrise changes August to May
For Rock Hill and the greater Charlotte area, the sunrise time fluctuates by an hour an a half (6:15 a.m. to 7:46 a.m.) through the school year. The first day of school for Rock Hill, Aug. 8, has a sunrise time of 6:39 a.m.
But over the next month, York County loses an hour of daylight.
That means sunrise is back to 7 a.m. during the first week of September. By mid-October, it is 30 minutes later at 7:30 a.m.
Right after Halloween, we "fall back," which makes sunrise time like summer again at 6:48 a.m.
By Christmas break, we have our shortest periods of daylight with less than 10 hours.
So when the kids go back to school on Jan. 6, 7:32 a.m. will be the sunrise time to start the month. This time won't change much for the next three weeks of January.
To end February, the sun rises before 7 a.m. again -- but this is short lived. When we "spring forward" in March,
daylight saving time makes bus stops darker again. The sunrise time then is 7:41 a.m.
But the days are getting longer more quickly now. So by mid April, sunrise drops below 7 a.m. again. And by the last day of school on May 23, we have the brightest bus stop with that final sunrise time at 6:15 a.m.
The latest sunrise times
We have the latest sunrise times of the school year around the two times we change our clocks -- before we fall back and after we spring forward.
The spring is gaining daylight quicker than we lose it in the fall, so the times change more drastically leading up to graduation.
Contact Chris Mulcahy at cmulcahy@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.