Some parts of US will gain an hour of daylight this month

(NEXSTAR) — Winter has officially arrived across the United States, with temperatures dropping and snow piling up for many. Even if the cold isn't enough to make you feel depressed, many of us find our daylight hours a bit limited.

we have already surpassed the “darkest” day of the season, which fell on December 21st last year. Depending on where you live, there were only 6 hours of daylight that day.

Since then, we've been on an upward trend, slowly gaining more daylight each day. Although the sunset was later, it was offset by a later sunrise.

For example, in Chicago, sunrise on December 21st was 7:15 a.m. and sunset was 4:23 p.m. NOAA solar calculator. As of January 4, the sun rises at approximately 7:18 a.m. and sunsets at 4:33 p.m., resulting in a net gain of approximately 7 minutes of sunlight.

As January progresses, there will be more sunshine hours. Some parts of the country are expected to gain more than an hour of sunshine by the end of this month.

Residents of Anchorage, Alaska will experience the largest increase in sunshine hours this year. According to NOAA's Solar Calculator, the sun will rise around 10:14 a.m. local time on January 1 and set around 3:53 p.m., for a total of less than six hours of daylight. By January 31, the sun will rise around 9:23 a.m. and sunset just after 5 p.m. This results in a total of 7 hours and 41 minutes of sunshine, an increase of more than 2 hours compared to the beginning of the month.

Areas in the northern Lower 48, including Seattle and the northern tip of Minnesota, will see an increase in total sunshine hours by about an hour. The increase is less steep the further south you go in the United States, but this isn't necessarily surprising since these regions already have more daylight hours than northern states.

Tampa, Florida started the new year with almost 10 and a half hours of daylight. The region is expected to receive approximately 28 minutes of sunshine by February. Meanwhile, Honolulu is gaining just 20 minutes of daylight. Hawaii already receives far more sunshine than the rest of the country, and will end January with more than 11 hours of sunshine each day.

See how much more daylight hours cities across the U.S. will get by the start of February.

You can use NOAA's Solar Calculator to compare sunrise and sunset times in January. here. You can click one of the pre-marked cities on the map, drag the red pin to your location, or enter your latitude and longitude below the map. Next, click the “Create sunrise/sunset table for the year” button.

Daylight hours will continue to increase until June. The longest “day” Or most of the time from sunrise to sunset. Then we begin to lose daylight again.

When daylight saving time begins in March, it may seem like there is a temporary hiatus in daylight saving time increases. The sun will rise late in the morning and linger until late in the day, but the days will continue to get longer, much longer than they are now. Chicago currently has about 9 hours of daylight, which could be up to closer to 12 hours when daylight saving time begins.