Happy Winter Solstice
I know I’ve shown you this picture before. This is a time lapse photo of the arc of the sun on the Winter Solstice, at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is just outside of the arctic circle, so you do get a glimpse of the sun for an hour or two, but it never really gets light. Pretty cool photo.
Starting tomorrow* our evenings will darken a bit later every day. It still takes longer for the sun to come up in the mornings for a couple more weeks, though, which I don’t really understand, but Jamie explained a couple of years ago.
Also, obviously, Happy Summer Solstice to friends in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope you’re enjoying your transition from Spring into Summer. Which reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas songs, White Wine in the Sun.
* Edited to say that AC’s comment had me go look at some official records, and no, it’s not starting tomorrow that the sunsets get later. It’s been happening, very gradually, for over a week now. It’s just that the later sunrise has been eating up more of the sunlight. So this whole thing doesn’t work the way I thought it did. I thought of losing sunlight as coming in both directions, with the solstice having the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset of the year. Not true, not here at least (is it true somewhere? I don’t know.) I was a literature** major in college, is what I am saying. (One possible future…I don’t know tech stuff***.)
** Sort of. I have a BA in international relations and an MA in comparative literature. Neither one helps with this kind of stuff though.
*** Cue irrelevant quote from The Terminator. The key is, “I don’t know tech stuff.”
26 Comments
Birchie
Yay winter solstice! I know that it will take awhile until we notice the difference in daylight, but also the daylight won’t get any shorter! We’re over the hump of winter! yeah yeah I know that techincally it’s the first day of winter but it’s been cold and dark here for a while now so “the hump” is that we’ve finished Unofficial Winter and are now starting Official Winter.
J
I think the later sunsets will be welcome for a lot of folks, and yeah, you’ve been getting cold weather for sure!
Alexandra
Yeah for the solstice. I always love that we now get a minute a day more sunlight. Roll on spring. And what a great photo. That really hits home how little sun some people get during winter. I couldn’t cope. I think I’d go a little stir crazy.
Meanwhile, here’s wishing you and your family all the best for the holidays. Have a wonderful time.
J
Thank you Alexandra! I love winter, but I live in a temperate climate. Not sure I would love it if I lived somewhere where it is dark and cold. I mean, I did as a kid and it didn’t bother me, but I was pretty young.
Alexandra
Oh, lucky you. When I moved up here I thought it would be fun, I love winter, I love snow … I just don’t like it for 7 months of the year! Throw in the bitter cold and … I want to move every winter! ?
J
I’ll bet!
Tamara
Long time reader, never commenter but I just wanted to thank you for posting this photo. I take the descent into darkness each year very hard. But this, this is beautiful, like a crown of light. Best wishes in the lengthening days to come.
J
Thank you for commenting, and glad to have you here! I love this picture, which I guess is why I keep posting it.
AC
The key is that it continues to get colder while it gets lighter. There’s a timelag that I could explain once. Maybe I could again if I put my heart into it. I think the basic reason has to do with the oceans taking a long time to warm back up. The reverse happens in summer to some extrent. The big question is, Why am I blathering.
J
I remember an old saying, “When the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen”, and your explanation of that makes sense. What I didn’t know until Jamie pointed it out was that the time we are clawing back in the upcoming days are all in the evening, and sunrise is continuing to get later and later for about the next two weeks. And that sunset has actually been getting a bit later for a few weeks now. I guess I used to think that the shortest day of the year necessarily corresponded to both the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset, but it doesn’t. It’s just the fewest hours of daylight.
Margaret
I don’t notice it for a while, but I know it’s happening. I do like darker mornings for sleep but love more light in the afternoons. That is a stunning photo!
J
I agree, I sleep better when it’s dark and cold out. I do like that we don’t stay on Daylight Saving time though, because I like to have a walk in the morning before work, and right now the sun is barely up by 7am. If it didn’t come up until 8 I’d be walking in the dark (I guess a lot of people do that though.)
Lisa’s Yarns
I like this day because we get more sunlight each day going forward and that is a very good thing for me. That is a beautiful photo! It was very chilly here today with temps well below freezing but it will warm up later this week – but will stay cold enough to have a white Christmas which is what I prefer!!
J
I love a white Christmas! I haven’t had one since I was 8 though. More light is definitely a good thing.
Zazzy
That’s a very lovely photo. And Happy Winter Soltice to you! A few more seconds per day becomes minutes and then hours and spring is here. It makes you wonder why the shortest day of the year happens before our coldest weather. For the most part, anyway.
J
You’re right that some of it is seconds per day at first, I hadn’t thought of that. And yeah, winter starts on the shortest day, so the coldest day (generally) is ahead of us.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
What a gorgous photo of the winter solstice.
Glad you shared it again because I hadn’t seen it before.
J
Isn’t it pretty? The ice fog down below really lends to the beauty of the picture. The parking lot in the foreground maybe not so much.
Ernie
This is a cool photo. I’m unfamiliar with these science-y types of things. They sound cool though. Thanks for the explanation.
J
It’s one thing to hear that the sun barely comes up above the horizon, and then it sets a few hours later, and quite another to see a cool photo like this, right?
NGS
The Winter Solstice is so much fun! Things are TURNING AROUND. It won’t be dark forever!!!
J
Kind of a relief, right?
Daria
Winter solstice! We used to have a “tradition” that we only did once but I really want to reinstate it- on winter solstice, we eat with candles, not lamps. It hasn’t stuck but I really want it to stick. Maybe next year I write it on my calendar. On summer solstice, we eat dinner outside.
J
Oh, I like that idea, and I hope you make it into an annual tradition! The kids are young enough, they will remember it as always having been that way, if you keep it going. 🙂
Anne
I should shift to focusing on the solstice (not a Christmas person). It is my mom’s favorite day – when it starts getting lighter. My dad has also shared the fact that the sunsets keep getting later until, well, just about now (1 week in to January). He thinks it’s super cool. So do I. Sometimes I wish I’d gone into a different line of science… I’m fascinated by so many of them!
J
I think Solstice is a perfect antidote to the consumerism of Christmas!