The Longest Night

A beautiful cut paper/silhouette stop motion animation observing the Winter Solstice. Music, words, art and animation by Angie Pickman. Thanks to The Wood Between.

Happy Solstice!

The separation of day and night at Winter Solstice 2015.

From Earthsky.

I'm posting this at 8:48 P.M. PST (4:48 UT, December 22), the very moment of the Winter Solstice. The sun, from our viewpoint on this spinning globe, has reached as far south as it will go, and is now beginning to move back north. We in the Northern Hemisphere have made it through the darkest time of the year. Now, this minute, the journey back to light and warmth, a long, beautiful journey, has begun.

Have a great trip.

Post-Solstice Walk With One-Eye the Cat

Went out about 3:15 Sunday afternoon, right after the solstice. One-Eye went with me. We call him that because a couple of years ago he came in with his face clawed and his left eye out of its socket. The vet tucked it back in, sewed his eyelid shut, and filled him full of antibiotics. He survived, and seems to have sight in that eye.

He came because this is his territory. From his point of view, I'm the one going on a walk with him.

The river's still high. Sometime between Christmas and New Year's I hope to use up some added minutes of daylight down at Rocky Ford Creek.

But for now it was good to spend the end of the shortest day of the year and the beginning of the longest night of the year out under the sky along the river.

Winter Solstice 2014

Sunlight on Earth, on the day of the winter solstice.

The north polar region of Earth is in 24-hour darkness,

while the south polar region is in 24-hour daylight.

 Gif via Wikimedia Commons. (From Earthsky.)

The Winter Solstice is here. The important thing to know is that at 23:03 UTC (3:03 PM PST, 4:03 PM MST, 5:03 PM CST, 6:03 PM EST) the dark retreats, and light begins its welcome return.

Happy Solstice!

The Light Is Returning

One month after the Winter Solstice, the sun's light is returning to the Arctic Circle.

These photos, taken by Jan Inge Larson in northern Norway, show the horizontal rays of the sun as it just peeks over the horizon, and, at higher latitudes, the "blue hour"--normally twilight, but now the brightest time of the day.

Photos and map from EarthSky.

Solstice Count Down: Nine Hours

It was cold on Friday, and we got our first snowfall down in the valley. It was timely, brightening things up on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

Now there are just 9 hours until the "sun stands still" at 9:11 AM Pacific Standard Time, and the earth begins its tilt back toward the sun's warmth and light. Today will be the shortest day of the year. At our location, just a few miles from the Canadian border, there will be 8 hours and 16 minutes between sunrise and sunset.

Sunlight on Earth, on the day of the winter solstice.

The north polar region of Earth is in 24-hour darkness,

while the south polar region is in 24-hour daylight.

Gif via Wikimedia Commons.

But then, on Sunday, there will be 8 hours and 17 minutes. Enjoy that extra minute knowing that the light is coming back.

Happy Solstice, everyone.

Solstice Count Down: 5

It's 3 PM. The day since sunrise is seven hours and fifteen minutes old. One hour and two minutes until sunset. I get a text. Regular rides won't work today; I need to pick up one of the boys at school. Before I climb in the truck I look down to the river. The weather has been slightly warmer, but the river is still iced over.

It's 3:10 PM. At the school I look back southwest over the town. The sun is going down almost due south. It still has a few degrees of southern shift to go.

It's 3:20. We get home.

It's 4 PM. I go outside for the sunset. It's the color of summer.

Only 5 days until the solstice.

Solstice Countdown: 9

Wandered down to the river behind the house. Felt like dusk at 3 PM. Lowering snow clouds--snow on the way. Ice--ice stacked up bank to bank. No fishing at all for awhile. Only 9 short days until the Solstice.

Solstice Countdown: 15

So when it gets cold, the river begins to freeze up, and the drifting shards of ice make an ethereal, tinkly music as they shuffle by...

And you can see the vapor trail of an F-16 from the base in Spokane whose pilot is in a good mood as he makes his training run (I hope that was an F-16, and not a 737)...

And the ice on Bass Lake makes unearthly Star Wars sound effects as it tightens its grip.

Just 15 more days until the Solstice.

Darker, Colder...For Awhile Longer

Twenty-six days until the Winter Solstice:

The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the Winter Solstice lasts only an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used as Midwinter or contrastingly the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, this occurs on the shortest day, and longest night, and the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest.

The seasonal significance of the Winter Solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. (From Wikipedia. Emphasis mine.)

Take a Quick Trip to Patagonia

I found a blog a few weeks ago, and it gave me something to think about. While we were enjoying Spring after a long Winter, this blog was celebrating Fall and getting ready for Winter.

It's Just Another Day In Patagonia. There are fish, of course, like this otherworldly Brown.

But this excellent blog is about much more. You might want to check out his latest post, a celebration of community set in a traditional Quechua ceremony on a cliff overlooking Lake Titicaca in Peru marking the winter solstice. Just think about that for a minute. This is good stuff.

Just to make sure we're straight, that would be the Patagonian winter solstice, which was just last week, on June 21, our summer solstice. So remember, if it gets too hot this summer, just take a quick trip to Patagonia. It's winter there.