The sun is setting over Montreal earlier and earlier, and since we passed the autumnal equinox on September 22, it seems that the days are getting shorter and shorter, plunging the city into long – and colder – nights.
Of course, Montrealers are used to the long, cold months of winter, the short days and the Nordic way of life, which, strangely enough, we haven’t turned into a lifestyle that would turn international pop culture upside down – like Danish hygge . An occasional afternoon at the spa, a mug of Labrador tea, lots of movie nights and long walks in the forest on cross-country skis-we live the cold season well.
But now that that’s out of the way, we still want to spend as much time as possible with our faces turned towards the sun – like the flowers of the same name – and with the clocks changing to winter time on November 2, 2025, that’s going to get easier…
Winter time, Montreal and an extra hour to sleep
Winter time has a simple aim: to align our lives (metro, work, cocktails, exhibition, bedtime) with the hours of sunshine. We’ve all noticed that not only is the sun setting earlier and earlier, it’s also rising later and later.
With daylight saving time, we’ll be getting up as the sun rises – and that’s just as well.
On the night of Saturday November 1 to Sunday November 2, the clock will be set back an hour. The sun will technically rise “earlier”, but (inevitably) set earlier too. We can console ourselves with a happy hour?
Technical details and automatisms
If we speak in terms of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), which allows us to count and compare times around the world, Quebec is in UTC-5:00 during winter time (standard time) and UTC-4:00 during summer time (daylight saving time). To check any time, you can also use your smartphone, but at least you’ll be able to read the data with a more scientific eye.
All over the media, the advice is not to change your routine too much and let your body adapt. We might add that, following the mystique of a 25-hour day (technically), you can go dancing all night and come home, or get up at dawn on November 2. That’ll be at 6:36 a.m., and we should be in great shape…
Good sleep