Sunset today is a local event. There is no one time that works for Earth, for a country, or even for two cities that share a timezone. The disk drops when it reaches the western horizon at your latitude and longitude, then the clock on the page is formatted in that city’s IANA timezone.
If you searched “what time is sunset today” and expected a single number, the honest answer is: open the city you are standing in. On 13 October 2026, official sunset was 6:20 PM in New York, 6:13 PM in London, 5:10 PM in Tokyo, and 7:06 PM in Sydney. Same calendar date. Four different evenings.
Those figures are a worked snapshot from our NOAA/Meeus-style engine — they are not a live widget. For the clock that belongs to this evening, search any city or use the Sun calculator hub.
A Mid-October Snapshot (13 October 2026)
| City | Timezone | Sunset today (13 Oct) | Day length |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | America/New_York (EDT) | 6:20 PM | 11h 15m |
| London | Europe/London (BST) | 6:13 PM | 10h 52m |
| Tokyo | Asia/Tokyo | 5:10 PM | 11h 23m |
| Dhaka | Asia/Dhaka | 5:35 PM | 11h 39m |
| Delhi | Asia/Kolkata | 5:54 PM | 11h 33m |
| Dubai | Asia/Dubai | 5:54 PM | 11h 38m |
| Los Angeles | America/Los_Angeles (PDT) | 6:22 PM | 11h 26m |
| Singapore | Asia/Singapore | 6:54 PM | 12h 5m |
| Sydney | Australia/Sydney (AEDT) | 7:06 PM | 12h 48m |
Notice two things at once. Northern cities are already losing the evening; Sydney is gaining it because October is spring in the Southern Hemisphere. And Tokyo’s 5:10 PM is not “earlier than New York” in any cosmic sense — Japan has no daylight saving, so the civil label sits closer to the Sun.
Why “Sunset Today” Cannot Be One Number
Three layers print the time you actually read.
- Geometry. Official sunset is when the Sun’s upper limb disappears on a flat astronomical horizon (zenith 90.833°, including average refraction). That instant is solved for a specific latitude and longitude. How sunrise and sunset are defined is the full convention.
- The civil clock. The same sky is labeled EDT in New York, BST in London, JST in Tokyo. A daylight-saving weekend can jump the label by an hour overnight while the Sun barely moves. That is coming on 25 October 2026 in the UK and EU, and 1 November 2026 in most of the United States — see Daylight Saving Time 2026.
- Your real horizon. A ridge, hotel, or fog bank can hide the disk a few minutes after the table. The table is still the right planning number. The skyline is why you stay.
A search for “sunset today USA” or “sunset today India” fails the same way. Miami and New York share Eastern Time and still disagree; Kolkata and Mumbai share IST and disagree by about an hour.
Sunset Today vs Golden Hour vs Dusk
People type “sunset today” when they mean three different clocks.
| You want | Use this | Typical offset from official sunset |
|---|---|---|
| The disk on the horizon | Official sunset | The timestamp itself |
| Warm light on faces and buildings | Evening golden hour | Starts ~40–70 min before sunset at mid-latitudes |
| Color after the disk is gone | Civil dusk / blue hour | ~20–40 min after sunset |
On 13 October 2026 in New York, evening golden hour ran about 5:43 PM – 6:37 PM around a 6:20 PM sunset. If you arrive at 6:18 PM for a “sunset picnic,” you have already missed most of the warm light on land.
That is why how to watch sunset plans backward from golden hour, not from the last visible slice of sun.
How to Get Your Sunset Today
- Search the city, not the country. Use the header search or Near me GPS jump.
- Read the timezone on the page. A phone that still thinks it is on yesterday’s flight will lie even if the astronomy is right.
- Check civil dusk and golden hour on the same card if you are going outside, not only the sunset line.
- If you need a famous west-facing viewpoint, use best places to watch sunset — Santa Monica Pier, Marine Drive, Cottesloe, Trocadéro — each with today’s local clock.
Do not convert a capital-city time in your head. Delhi is not India. London is not the United Kingdom. Edinburgh on the same British clock already sets later in summer and earlier in the dark months because it sits farther north.
What About Sunset Tomorrow?
In mid-October in the Northern Hemisphere, sunset usually slips one to two minutes earlier each evening. New York went from 6:20 PM on 13 October to 6:19 PM on 14 October 2026. London lost two minutes (6:13 PM → 6:11 PM). Sydney, heading into summer, went the other way: 7:06 PM → 7:07 PM.
The overnight change is small until a DST weekend, when the civil label jumps by a full hour. For the day-to-day drift, see sunrise today vs sunrise tomorrow.
If It Feels Like Evening Is Arriving Too Fast
It is. After the September equinox the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun. London’s mid-October 6:13 PM becomes 3:52 PM on the December solstice. That is not a weather story and it is not your imagination. Why it is getting dark so early walks through latitude, DST, and the December floor.
The Sun is punctual. The sentence “sunset today” is not, until you name a city.