And the shortest day:
In other words, the winter solstice:
The worst is over. Or will be by tonight, depending on where in the northern hemisphere you are. The light returns. Now all we have to do is slog our way through January. And February. And … everything else including the rest of December.
If you live in Florida, Costa Rica, or the Southern Hemisphere, please keep your boasting about your glorious season to a minimum.
The worst is over. Or will be by tonight…
Yup, driving into work in the dark and driving home from work in the dark and being stuck in work during the only time it is light out. It could be depressing and is to people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I had a co-worker who suffered from SAD and he had a light board that he would place near his desk that was supposed to help him deal with it. We do have the Christmas/New Year Holiday season that are supposed to bring joy during this gloomy time. This year has mostly sucked and I’ll give joy a try, but it will take effort.
Ah, my very favorite night of the year. The promise of longer days, and eventually SPRING!
I bought a bag of potting soil yesterday, and will do my best to resist dragging out the bin of garden seeds… but it will be a serious struggle. 🙂 Bringing them out leads to sorting them, and the urge to plant some becomes overwhelming. Who says kindergartners are the only ones who plant seeds in Dixie cups? LOL
Four inches of snow two days ago, and another inch last night. Oh me. 🙂
Costa Rica is in the Northern Hemisphere. Today is the shortest day for us as well. At this time of year the Central Valley, where I live, gets very high winds, causing all sorts of damage. Thankfully nothing serious this year but you will hardly find me boasting about our wonderful weather during December.
I wish everyone a Happy Solstice and in general a happy holiday season. I hope 2018 is healthy. happy and prosperous for all.
Jorge — Happy Solstice, Good Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Blessed Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year to you, as well.
I knew CR was in the northern hemisphere, having visited countries on either side of you. But I did NOT know about those high winds. Ugh. I’m glad they’ve at least been merciful this year.
And rejoice … because it could be much, much worse:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/science/winter-solstice-december-21.html
And rejoice … because it could be much, much worse
Yes, it could be much worse. I like the 4 seasons and my favorite season is the Fall. Winter is what it is (my least favorite season) and I deal with it as best as I can. Maybe I’ll come to favor it more after I retire and I can choose to hunker it out at home during snowstorms, watching it snow from the comfort of my living room, rather than being obligated to drive in treacherous road conditions, back and forth to work.
I only recently became aware that longer days following the solstice doesn’t mean exactly what I had thought. Okay, our days may be getting longer following the solstice, measured sunrise to sunset. But did you know that sunrises will continue coming later and later in the morning until around the 6th of January next year? And at the other end, our sunsets have been getting later in the evening since around the 15th of this month. For example, in Portland, Oregon, sunrise January 5, 2018 will come at 7:51 AM, on the 6th, at 7:50 AM. And sunset December 14th this year was 4:27 PM, the 15th, 4:28 PM.
firstdouglas — Thank you for the depressing news on sunrises. 😉
Actually, while I didn’t know that, sunset has been seeming to come later & I’d been wondering if it was just my imagination. I’d never noticed that before other winter solstices, but this year I’ve been watching.
Never understood the modern practice of declaring solstice as the first day of winter. In my experience if you haven’t frozen solid by solstice you’re not trying hard enough. Still the coldest days and nights are yet to come, and it’s at least some consolation to watch the sun come a little earlier every morning.
Oh, so totally agreed, Joel.
OTOH, if you worry about such things (as I do), then contemplate the strangeness of calling June 21 both the first day of summer and midsummer …
contemplate the strangeness of calling June 21 both the first day of summer and midsummer…
Such happens when a natural celestial order comes in contact with an arbitrary human one.
Personally, I’m just glad the Earth is tilted in its orbit to produce seasons. Otherwise life wouldn’t be here.
rochester_veteran December 21, 2017 5:40 am
Maybe I’ll come to favor it more after I retire and I can choose to hunker it out at home during snowstorms, watching it snow from the comfort of my living room, rather than being obligated to drive in treacherous road conditions, back and forth to work.
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You nailed it.Snow is much more enjoyable when being in it is an option,not a requirement.Sold my crazy 4×4 truck,kept the small not as capable old jeep,and look forward to spending the snowstorms at home this year 🙂
Why anyone chooses to live in Rochester anyway is beyond me! (Says he in South Carolina.) I lived in Glens Falls as a kid; no thanks.
lairdminor wrote: Why anyone chooses to live in Rochester anyway is beyond me! (Says he in South Carolina.) I lived in Glens Falls as a kid; no thanks.
Ha! 🙂 Two out of three of my kids live in the Rochester area. I was going to move to Colorado to be near my younger son, his wife and my grandson and then lure my other kids out there, but it looks like they’re moving to Dallas for a transfer with his company, so I’m staying put. Yeah, South Carolina has milder winters, but aren’t the summers way hot and muggy? Rochester summers get muggy too, but not that hot, with average high temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s. But yeah, the winters can really suck!
All’s I’s know is I’s be playing in snow this week up in the mountains, take that Florida, Costa Rica, or the Southern Hemisphere!! 40″ in 48 hours, Yip Yip Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still have my snow shovel from when we lived in Pennsylvania and Nebraska. It’s hanging with the other tools on the wall of my garage. When it gets mizzerable hot (but dry-hot here in the Hill Country) I go out and look at it.
You don’t have to shovel hot.
Dallas gets fairly hot, but again dry-hot. It seldom snows, but winters do bring ice.
Trivia: Dallas (430′) is lower in elevation than Austin (489′) or San Antonio (650′). Much lower than it is here, at 1,637′. Our shooting range, in the high part of the county, is at 1,909′. So right about the average for Texas, at 1,700′.
That’s visiting distance, less than 5 hours drive @ 70mph, to Dallas. 😉
larryarnold wrote: Dallas gets fairly hot, but again dry-hot. It seldom snows, but winters do bring ice.
Trivia: Dallas (430′) is lower in elevation than Austin (489′) or San Antonio (650′). Much lower than it is here, at 1,637′. Our shooting range, in the high part of the county, is at 1,909′. So right about the average for Texas, at 1,700′.
That’s visiting distance, less than 5 hours drive @ 70mph, to Dallas. 😉
Thanks for the info on Dallas, Larry! My son’s company is building a new campus north of Dallas and he went there to give a training session for some of the staff and they really liked him and took him out a few times to show him around and he really liked it there. His wife did research on the housing market there and they can get a lot more house for a lot less money in the Dallas/Fort Worth area than in Colorado. They’ve been house hunting around where they live in Colorado and the median price of a home is $440,000! The Front Range in Colorado has gotten so expensive for housing and for a young family, Dallas is a much more affordable place to live and it’s nice there according to my son.
rochester_veteran, SC can indeed get hot and muggy in the summer, but not so much where I live (the Upstate, near the NC border). It does get hot here but usually not too muggy. And we get all 4 seasons, including the occasional light snow. I’ve lived in upstate NY, NJ, Boston, and PA (both ends), and have had my fill of serious snow. Never again! 🙂