20 Says after Winter Solstice

[Boreal Birch]

Today in interior Alaska we have 1 hour and 6 minutes of day light more than we had on the Winter Solstice. We will gain 17 more hours of daylight by the Summer Solstice.

 

[RickR]

That's a dramatic change! Here in New England (VT) I'm hard pressed to notice any difference yet.

 

[snapper]

I live in NYS, smack dab in the middle of the "Black Triangle." We see the sun about once every 5 to 7 days when we're lucky so the advancing daylight hasn't made itself known yet; and it may take a while with our lack of sunny days.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Boreal Birch]

Subject line was automatically corrected to Says from the original wording of Days. My Smartypants phone seems to think it knows better than me what I want to write. Little dinky screen drives me nuts, can not find a way to correct the auto-correct or post edit my post..*&#$#☆~×=₩¥£€....old guy rants off into the night!!

 

[Odyssey]

No worries Birch I knew what you were talking about.
I'm not a clock watcher but have noticed the changing times. In fact last Sunday my wife and I witnessed the shifting seasons up close. Walking through the woods down near the river we stepped out into a meadow, and there 20 feet above us soared an eagle. We must've just startled it from it's perch. They nest here in February-March so it's not too unusual to spot them. Winter is far from over for us but the days are sliding by.

 

[ppine]

I do not like January. Cold and dark.
Currently I am reading a book about Heimo Korth a trapper in the Old Crow drainage up in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. He is one of a handful of people allowed to live there on old government leases. The book is the "The Final Frontiersman" by James Campbell. Korth is one of the so called "Last Alaskans."

Heimo gives an elegant description of the day in January when the sun finally makes it over the horizon for a few minutes. Work on the trapline ceases. He gets on his snow machine and rides up out of the valley to a slope with the sun on it. He revels in the weak first rays of Arctic sun.

I have lived in Seattle and Spokane, WA near the Canadian border and I never liked the winters that far north. Both places are dark with heavy over cast in winter. In Seattle it is mostly rain, but in Spokane it snows and never warms up. The snows oozes into ice.

I live in Nevada much further south. In winter I normally look forward to a desert trip to Death Valley in Feb to warm up and revel in the sun. I follow the warming temperatures in spring and summer and gain elevation. That allows being in the outdoors most of the year. I do not x-c ski or camp in the snow any more.

 

[yknpdlr]

I was deployed on a USAF task force at Eielson AFB, near Fairbanks, during late December, 1975. We landed at -57F and the temperature never got above -40 at any time for the next 10 days. Heavy dense ice fog prevented flights for several days. With only 3 hours of useable daylight each day, to pass the time I hiked out to see the oil pipeline that was under construction at the time not far away. At first light 90 minutes to get there, 90 minutes to get back to base before dark.

 

[Alan Gage]

Not quite so dramatic here but I notice that by the time I leave for work in the morning it's getting plenty bright and it's still light (but sun is down) when I get home from work. Every little bit helps. We'll probably add another 7-8 hours by the solstace. Can't wait.

Alan

 

[Patrick Corry]

I live in NYS, smack dab in the middle of the "Black Triangle." We see the sun about once every 5 to 7 days when we're lucky so the advancing daylight hasn't made itself known yet; and it may take a while with our lack of sunny days.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

Okay, I'll bite... what's the Black Triangle in New York?

 

[Mason]

When I lived in the Glennallen AK area, the dark, short winter days didn't bother me. But I was running during my lunch break, and skiing and climbing on the weekends, so I got a lot of sun (one friend had severe problems with the darkness, even with the sun lights). HOWEVER, as soon as we were over the hump in January, the increasing sun was imminently noticeable, and my sap started rising. It was entertaining.

Walking around and looking at the hoarfrost was always fun.

 

[ppine]

People in Seattle sometimes keep track of how many days in a row without seeing the sun, due to the low cloud deck. One hundred days is not uncommon. The receipt of UV light is at a very low level. We always had grow lights in the house for growing house plants but benefited by being around them. In the spring, when the sun comes out the first few times not much happens. People just go outside and sit in the sun. At UW, Rainier Vista has an unobstructed view of the mighty Mt Rainier.

 

[snapper]

Patrick (and anyone else who may be interested) -

The "Black Triangle" runs from Binghamton up to Albany, from Albany west to Syracuse and then south from Syracuse back to Binghamton. Years ago I was looking for a solar powered hot water system for an outdoor center I worked out. The salesperson said if we wanted it for educational purposes he'd help me to set something up. But, if we were looking to save money, it wasn't worth it. He explained to me that we were in the "Black Triangle" and while the average payback for the system he carried was 7 years, in the "Black Triangle" the payback was almost 22 years! Bottom line, we get a lot of cloudy days. In fact, on this evening's weather forecast they showed that other than this past Saturday when we received 50% of the available sun, the 7 days prior, and now the next 7 to come, will have 10% or less of the available sunshine. In other words, we're in the "Black Triangle"

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Chip]

As I get older, I just can't put forth work effort like I used to. My energy level is pretty good, but I have many body parts that don't work well, with my back leading the complaints.

I was doing some tree work Tuesday afternoon, and after about four hours my back was complaining plenty. I was longing for it to get dark so I could stop working because it was dark, not because I'm wimpy. 4:30, and the light was still strong. I haven't paddled since late December, when at 5:00, I was tying the boat to the rack in the dark. 5 o'clock came, and it was just twilighting. dang, I thought, the days are getting longer. I was able to keep working and hurting myself until 5:30. That'll be happy news once I finish these trees and can again focus on playing and hurting myself on the river.

 

[Sdrew22]

Patrick (and anyone else who may be interested) -

The "Black Triangle" runs from Binghamton up to Albany, from Albany west to Syracuse and then south from Syracuse back to Binghamton. Years ago I was looking for a solar powered hot water system for an outdoor center I worked out. The salesperson said if we wanted it for educational purposes he'd help me to set something up. But, if we were looking to save money, it wasn't worth it. He explained to me that we were in the "Black Triangle" and while the average payback for the system he carried was 7 years, in the "Black Triangle" the payback was almost 22 years! Bottom line, we get a lot of cloudy days. In fact, on this evening's weather forecast they showed that other than this past Saturday when we received 50% of the available sun, the 7 days prior, and now the next 7 to come, will have 10% or less of the available sunshine. In other words, we're in the "Black Triangle"

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

Yup. I believe Binghamton,NY was named the grayest (clouds) city in the Nation. Still, we are on the upswing and that is a good feeling. Only two months until DLS!

 

[memaquay]

I live in a magical area where sunshine is king, and complainers leave quickly, lol. I love winter, even at 40 below. Everyone is complaining right now because the weather has been around freezing for two weeks......it's not cold enough. Lots of slush on the lakes, snow actually melting, what a sad state of affairs! I snowshoe or ski every single day, and I drive my skidoo to work. I have a winter tent in the back yard where we have drinks and sit around the warmth of a wood stove at -30. Because of the covid, we have had quite a few gatherings (well, under ten people) in our back yard around our firepit. Christmas Eve was -21, and we stuck it out till around 10 pm, started at 2 in the afternoon. I've burnt two full cords of wood outside already this year, not much inside, because we are always outside.

Daylight was on the retreat for a while, didn't see morning till about 9:00AM, and saw darkness at 5:00, but now it's on the increase again. Doesn't stop us anyway, we go snowshoeing at night with our headlamps, best time to do it.

There are no bugs in the winter!

Anyway, life is good, stay positive, get outside, if there is no light, make your own!

 

[yknpdlr]

Okay, I'll bite... what's the Black Triangle in New York?

I used to fly with the USAF from Griffiss AFB in Rome, NY. We called the Mohawk Valley the "Gray Dome". It would often be bright and sunny just a few miles north or south, but heavily overcast over Rome/Utica.

 

[gumpus]

Sunset in SW Michigan today was ar 5:38 pm, a gain of a little over 20 minutes since the solstice. But already that means a change from "dark before dinner" to "some decent light at 6 pm" and by February 1st it really feels like Spring is coming. SW Michigan is on the very western edge of the Eastern time zone so we get an hour more afternoon light than those poor folks in Chicago where I grew up. I don't want to jinx it but so far our winter has been mild so I'm finding ways to cope like paddling.

 

[sweeper]

I spent some time at the Army's Black Rapids Training Center. We got less than an hour of the sun as it passed the end of the river valley.
We don't get a lot of sun here in our valley. On the Solstice it comes out from behind Mt Sofie at 8:55 and drops behind the ridge at 3:15. We also don't get an FM signal or Cell phone service

 

[ppine]

I worked out of Ketchikan off and on for 2 years. During the first field season I never saw it get dark. The second season we learned to forget about early spring and late fall, because there just was not enough daylight. I did one trip to the Interior of Alaska, north of Fairbanks. It was the first week in September, well into fall. As the Equinox was approaching I did not expect that much daylight. Twilight lasted for 2 hours. The Northern Lights were already prominent. It was the perfect time to be there. I liked the people a lot. Even the little kids were tough.