Moving into the Sunshine

Joanna here, feeling like I should be doing something to encourage the sun a bit more.

It always strikes me as weird that the days get longer after the Solstice in December but the weather keeps getting colder. My truly cold winter months hit in January and February when there's more sun. It seems both unfair and, like, counter intuitive.

It's sciency stuff, basically. The "getting slowly colder" thing happens because the earth is a big place and holds a whole bunch of accumulated heat energy stored up from last July and August. Takes a while for that heat to dissipate.

Same reason you can't just take yer pie out of the oven and it's instantly cool enough to chow down.

see the similarity to the earth on the right

If the pie were the earth and you took it out on the Solstice, round here you wouldn't be eating dessert till January.

Here's a nifty map of the coldest day for the US. (you can look at it up close here.) You'll see that some places -- like in Colorado -- get chillyfreezing at the Solstice. This is arranged by the local Chamber of Commerce to encourage Ski Tourism over Winter Break. Where I live, deepest cold hits in the middle of February and we are still worried about blossom damage on the fruit trees into March and April.

So the whole "inertia of the earth's heat" is all very well, but it doesn't account for what actually happens, does it?

When you ask why, they come up with a lot of meteorological hand-waving basically. They talk about humidity and local climate and how close you are to the ocean and I suppose computers are involved somewhere. It still does not seem fair and I find the Chamber of Commerce argument more convincing, meself.

This is a fox in Norway who really cannot wit for the days to get longer

In case you were wondering How Much Longer your days are going to get now that the Winter Solstice has come and gone, you can go here, plug in your city, and you will be able to find out.

Here in Virginia I get an extra minute of daylight tomorrow. Yippee! I'll continue to get an extra minute of sun every day till the Summer Solstice. I feel so special.

Folks living in Nome, Alaska will get close to two extra minutes tomorrow, but I do not begrudge it to them.

 

Are you looking forward to getting some sun eventually? What do you plan to do with it?

Comments

[Mary Jo Putney]

Here comes the sun! Yes, Jo, I love this stuff, and I swear I noticed the tiny bit more light Baltimore received yesterday. Sunshine to give us hope even as the days get colder for a while. *G*

[Joanne Bourne]

Yep. I had KNOWN there was less variance in day length as you went from north to south in the northern hemisphere. I mean, I used to live on the equator and missed the change in day length.

But I'd kinda forgotten about that till I sat down to write this.

[Denise]

Here in north central PA the extra increments of light are appreciated, but spending February on the beach in Florida is the real cure! 😉

[Sue McCormick]

I am a sun baby, but I usually manage just to enjoy it when ever it appears! Since I grew up in the mid-West and have lived 85 of my 92 years in the mid-West, I am well use to climate is "average" because it moves between the extremes: floods and droughts in the same year, blizzards or tornadoes followed by unmoving air, and so on. Living in our country's largest area surely teaches us how to handle contrasts.

As a change of topic/follow-up: the family gathered yesterday for an ice-cream party. The main treat was Baskin and Robins French Vanilla Ice Cream (for those outside the U. S., this is probably one of our best tasting mass-market foods). We served it with chocolate sauce, crushed pepperment, and or pink cream soda. With three types of mass market cookies. A good time was had by all from the 2-year-old to the 92-year-old.

[Joanne Bourne]

I like the Carolina offshore island too. Not as crowded. *g*

[Joanne Bourne]

Sounds lovely. Even in the dark times of the year, making your own sunshine. *g*

[Vicki L]

About Jan 15th I can really see the difference in the amount of daylight and am oh so glad that I'm finally getting MORE! It is such a psychological boost that the days are finally getting noticeably longer.My extra 5 minutes of light right now haven't really added up to much yet mentally (smile).

[Lil]

It doesn't matter to me now that I am "retired" and can get up whenever I damn well please, but I really hated Daylight Savings Time back when I had to get up at 5:30 to get my son and husband to the station to catch the 5:40 train. (Yes, I cut it a bit close.) We had just reached the day when the sun was actually providing some light at getting-up time when DST popped up and I was back to getting up in the middle of the night.

I am definitely a phototropic plant.

[Mary M.]

Here I am in sunny Phoenix ... except it's not, and this is potentially a good thing. If the intermittent rain continues into January, we'll have a bumper crop of wildflowers in April. But dry in January, wet in April would mean few flowers. (Another little weather factoid for you.)

[Mary T]

I am always looking forward to more sun. If it is warm enough, I'll sit on the porch and soak up some vitamin D. Otherwise I'll just let it lift my mood.

[Joanne Bourne]

I notice the sun coming back day by day. Happens when I wake up and look out my window, first thing.

In the dead of winter I'm waking up on my own before dawn, and very dim and soft I do find it.

I go wandering through the house, getting dressed, making tea, feeding the cat and dog, all by the glow of my little automatic night lights.

I think I can do better work in the morning if I don't go blasting my poor brain with big electric lights.

In summer, of course, the dawn comes up like thunder and drags me out of bed.

Somewhat like:

Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

[Joanne Bourne]

I hate hate hate Daylight Savings Time.
(jo grumbles)

[Joanne Bourne]

And there is nothing more beautiful than flowers in the desert.

Here's wishing you rain into January and a full up reservoir and many flowers.

[Joanne Bourne]

I don't know how folks live in places like Scotland or Alaska where part of the year is just night All The Time.

I'm sure there must be ancient customs to deal with this. I suspect they involve going out to the pub and sitting in front of the fire with friends.

[Margaret]

Oh Joanna, thank you for that fun poem from Stevenson! I fall into the guilty category of whiny human always finding something to complain about. When I lived closer to the equator I bemoaned the lack of seasons and the way the time for sunset changed so little. Now back home, I grumble on about the cold in winter and the heat in summer and start complaining about the days getting shorter by about June 25. But oh, how I rejoice in the days getting longer in early January. Happy New Year to all in the Wench world!

[Joanne Bourne]

It's like me bemoaning how tasteless strawberries get in the winter and how I can't find fresh figs.

But the succession of new stars connects us to the whole universe. The path of the sun marks the world. I really HAVE to learn to embrace the wonder of the seasons.
(Not Daylight Savings Time, though.)

[Karin]

I am hyper-aware of getting extra minutes of daylight at the end of the day. It starts to become really noticeable to me in mid-January. But even now is better than the solstice!