How we perceive the weather will change with the time shift

The change from daylight saving time to standard time can alter our bodies’ internal clocks, but can it actually impact the weather? Well, changing the clocks actually has zero impact on the weather directly. However, there are impacts to how we perceive the weather because the timing has shifted slightly.

It’s easy to notice that the sun will set much earlier today than it did Saturday. Sunset happened at 6:45 p.m. Saturday in San Antonio, and now it will be at 5:44 p.m. this evening. That’s a change of one hour and one minute. The hour is courtesy of the time change, and the extra minute is because the sun is naturally setting a little earlier each day this time of year.

So what does this have to do with weather? Not only will the skies darken sooner, but temperatures will drop earlier, thanks to the loss of solar radiation. For example, let’s pick a time in the evening, say 7 p.m. Before the time change, 7 p.m. was only 15 minutes after sunset. Today, the same time will be more than an hour and 15 minutes after sunset.

That extra hour of time with no solar radiation will allow temperatures to fall an average of 3 degrees lower than where temperatures would have been at 7 p.m. before the clocks changed. While 3 degrees is not a huge change, it could make you a bit more likely to need a jacket as you head out in the evening.

The time change also will shift the average time of the daily high temperatures. Lately, the highs have been reached normally between 3 and 4 p.m. With the time change, the high temperatures will now be an hour earlier, occurring normally between 2 and 3 p.m.

Forecasts

There is a good chance of fog as we start the day off today, especially on the East Side. Patchy fog likely will develop after 4 a.m. and stick around through 9 a.m. Low temperatures will fall into the upper 50s.

By the late morning and afternoon, the fog will dissipate, but San Antonio still will be left with mostly cloudy skies throughout the day. Temperatures will rise into the 70s by noon, and they’ll continue to rise into the upper 70s to near 80 degrees by the afternoon. That is about 5 degrees above average for early November.

Monday will be similar. Mostly cloudy skies are expected, and high temperatures will rise to around 80 degrees. A few changes are expected by Tuesday and Wednesday. That is when we’ll start to see a bit more sunshine. Because of this, temperatures will rise several degrees and top out in the mid-80s on Tuesday and Wednesday. Rain is not expected.

Larger changes are expected Thursday and Friday. Thursday will still likely be quite warm, but a cold front is expected to move through South Texas late Thursday, sending temperatures falling quite a bit by Friday. Highs are expected to be in the 50s and 60s by Friday and Saturday.

The cold front will bring a chance of rain. Slight chances will start by Thursday night, but the odds will rise as we push into Friday and Saturday.