British Summer Time is starting in weeks – here are the exact daylight times for the coming months
Many people long to see the end of the dark mornings and nights as warmer weather arrives. While the dark and chilly evenings might be fine for the winter festive season, once they are gone the countdown starts for spring and summer, with longer days and hopefully sunshine.
The biggest change is seen when the clocks change, jumping from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time. This year it is happening on March 29, with clocks remaining that way until October 25 when they will return to GMT.
But there is also a four-minute rule which will see the nights get lighter throughout the month of March. And it means by the end of the 31 days, it won’t be just the extra hour of daylight that people will be experiencing.
According to timeanddate.com, you get just under four minutes extra daylight every day throughout March. And this means a big difference by the end of the month.
While times will vary slightly depending on where you live, in London on March 1 the sun rises at 6.45am and sets at 5.40pm, giving 10 hours, 54 minutes and 53 seconds of daylight. However on March 28 – the day before British Summertime kicks in – the sun will rise at 5.45am and set at 6.26pm meaning there is daylight for 12 hours, 41 minutes and 50 seconds.
By March 31, allowing for the clocks to go forward, the sun will be rising at 6.38am and setting at 7.32pm. This means there are 12 hours, 53 minutes and 41 seconds of daylight.
Just a month later, by April 30, there will be daylight from 5.34am until 8.22pm and then on May 31 this will have extended again with sunrise at 4.49am and it not setting until 9.07pm.
Time and Date says: “The June solstice (summer solstice) in London is at 09:24 on Sunday, 21 June, 2026.” On this date the sun will rise at 4.43am and set at 9.21pm giving 16 hours, 38 minutes and 22 seconds of daylight.
It adds: “In terms of daylight, this day is 8 hours, 49 minutes longer than the December solstice. In most locations north of the equator, the longest day of the year is around this date. The earliest sunrise is on 17 June. The latest sunset is on 24 June or 25 June.”
Will I gain or lose sleep with British Summer Time?
Royal Museum’s Greenwich has explained why the clocks change and whether we lose or gain sleep when BST starts. It said: “Unfortunately, the clocks moving forward means that we lose an hour in bed.
“An easy way to remember which way the clocks change at which time of year is to remember that the clocks ‘spring forward’ in spring, and ‘fall back’ in autumn.”
It said the clock change was down to a campaign more than 100 years ago. It said: “The clocks go forward for the summer because of a campaign at the beginning of the 20th century to change the clocks during the summer months, in a practice known as British Summer Time.
“The original campaign attempted to argue that by changing the clocks during the summer people in the northern hemisphere could make more use of the earlier daylight hours. William Willett – an early promoter of British Summer Time and great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin – published a pamphlet in 1907 titled ‘The Waste of Daylight’, which suggested changing the clocks in the spring and putting them back in the autumn.
“However, Willett’s proposal was complicated, involving advancing the clocks by 80 minutes in four separate moves of 20 minutes each. Willett died in 1915. A year later Parliament passed the Summer Time Act, which established the practice of putting the clocks an hour forward during the summer.”
