SNAPPED: Sun sets over Tetons

JACKSON, Wyo. — The fall sunset marks a period of shorter days and longer nights, when humans and animals prepare for the long winter ahead.

Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer watched a brilliant sky turn hues of purple, pink, yellow and orange on the evening of Thursday, Oct. 24, with the jagged lines of the Tetons carving across the evening sky with new snow.

According to Date and Time, the Jackson Hole sun sets in the west at 5:08 p.m. and rises again at 7:04 a.m. in the southeast, as of Tuesday, Nov. 5. Daylight saving time came to an end on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 2 a.m.

The winter solstice, or shortest day of the winter, will be on Dec. 21, with eight hours, 57 minutes of daylight. In terms of daylight, this day is six hours, 31 minutes shorter than the June solstice.

Grand Teton National Park Foundation writes on its website that moose have started concentrating in the sagebrush/grassland areas in the south end of the park. Park mule deer are traveling to distant wintering areas. Elk will begin migrating as snow begins to accumulate in the high country. Pronghorn have begun to move out of the Jackson Hole valley to the Upper Green River basin near Pinedale. Black bears and a few grizzly bears will be in winter dens by early November, and most migratory birds have left the valley for their wintering grounds.

As fall leads to winter and then to spring, the later sun sets will bring longer days once again.