I think it's the time of the year as the sun gets lower, we're starting hearing distant AM stations around 3:30 or 4 pm along the east coast. I started hearing NYC's blowtorches 710, 660, 880, and some other stations here in VA that I'm normally don't hear during daytime, starting around 3:30. I don't know if this "late afternoon DX" also occurs down south, but in west central Oregon I started hearing Sacramento's 50 kW blowtorch KFBK 1530 around 3 pm PST and it sounded almost like a local station.