As first day of summer nears, Chicago prepares to hit big daylight milestones

April showers have brought May flowers to the Chicago area, and the region just keeps on gaining daylight as another key milestone approaches.

As of Sunday, the Chicago area is basking more than 14 hours of daylight, but that’s just the beginning as the region continues to check off boxes on the march to summer.

In fact, the next big daylight milestone will arrive on Sunday, May 10, as the Chicago area will see its first sunset after 8 p.m. since the summer of 2025.

According to Sunrise-Sunset, the sunset will be the first one post-8 p.m. the Chicago area will have seen since August 9 of last year, a nearly nine-month gap in time.

Through the month of May, the Chicago area will be gaining more than an hour of daylight, with more than 15 hours of glorious sunlight occurring by the end of the month.

Unfortunately, there is at least one milestone that isn’t quite as exciting for residents, as May 17 will mark the date where the Chicago area will be gaining less than two minutes of daylight per day, a diminishing trend that will continue through the summer solstice.

Still, there are still reasons for daylight lovers to rejoice in the month of June, as June 14 will mark the year’s earliest sunrise at 5:13 a.m. Then on June 27 the Chicago area will mark its latest sunset of the year, taking place after 8:31 p.m.

Finally, the summer solstice will arrive on June 21, with the area getting its biggest dose of daylight of the year at 15 hours and 17 minutes.