Our winter solstice occurred on
December 21st. The word
“solstice” is derived from the Latin sol
sistere, which means “sun standing still.”
Obviously, the sun did not stand still a couple days ago, but what did
happen is this: we experienced the shortest day of the year.
Way up in the Arctic, the solstice
brings neither sunrise nor sunset. The top of the Earth is leaning away from the
sun and bathed in full darkness right now.
Barrow, Alaska, saw the last sunset occur on November 18 of this year
and will not see a sunrise again until January 22, 2018. Between those dates, the sun will never lift
above the snow-held horizon. The “day”
hours will mostly be locked in the same darkness as night—save a few hours of
what is called “civil twilight.” That’s
when the sun rolls up and teases a little color and light from just below the
horizon.
Granted, folks up there eventually tilt
into nearly three full months of summer daylight.
Not us. Here in Montana, we might have skinny days of
sunlight for a while, but we get the full monty. And we are on our way back, baby!
We are tilting back into the Sun
again!
Each day from here until June 21, 2018
the days will get longer.
-- Mitchell
Hegman
I have vision issues and so, the longer the daylight the better.
ReplyDeleteYep. And my plants are also fond of longer days.
ReplyDelete