Yesterday's sunset at 3:30 p.m. Shortest day of the year is Dec. 21.
In Washington State, the sun swings south in winter. I can see the Cascade Mountain foothills from every window. Took this photo looking north at the south side of the foothills.
It snowed last night and dawned a bright blue sky. Gorgeous and cold at 17 degrees.
In summer, the sunset is in the west at 10:00 p.m.
Winter solstice is December 21, the shortest day of the year. After that, days will gradually grow longer until the Summer Solstice in June.
"Where did the trees on that hillside go?" my mother asked, pointing north. She was visiting from Florida. "Remember the massive wildfire of 2012?" I replied. "Then idiot guys in their 20s playing with bottle rocket fireworks started another wildfire."
"Can't they replant the trees?" she asked. "No, the hillside is too steep and trees would need irrigation in this dry climate," I explained.
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FrostyJim
Level 8
Dec 5, 2022
3
Oh my goodness, that's a short day of sunlight! Looks like I've got almost twice as much daylight as you these days. 10 hours 52 minutes for me today at least, with sunrise at 7am and sunset at 5:52pm.
@Julie808
A while back my wife and I visited Ketchikan, Alaska on vacation. Among other things there was The Bead Shoppe that she wanted to see. We asked them what it was like all winter when it was so cold and the sun refused to come up.
They said it was a mindset. They stayed inside and stocked up on projects.
Everyone gets their choices I guess.
The 21st is the shortest day, but the earliest sunset is about now. The latest sunrise is sometime around the first week in January. and that balances it out.
BufftonBeotch
Level 8
Dec 5, 2022
1
Yes, I was going to say that sun has already reached its earliest sunset and is already starting to set later by a few seconds each day, but the sun rise is still coming up later until mid/late January, with the shortest day in between for the northern hemisphere.
@Julie808; BufftonBeotch
The Christian holiday of December 8th (immaculate conception) was invented to counter the pagan holiday of that date, which marks the day of the earliest sunset, and the start of the Yule season.
January 5th/6th (Epiphany, alias 3 kings or wise men bearing gifts) is the date of the latest sunrise, and marked the end of the Yule season.
Hence the pagan custom of bringing a decorated tree into one's home on December 8th and removing it on January 6th.
3 days from now I will start wishing people "God Jul", which is Norwegian for "Good Yule". Feel free to give the same greeting. The bible belt lot will smile happily and think you are one of them!!!
I did some calculating yesterday, my oldest has moved to the Netherlands, and she is slightly further north than Winnipeg, Canada. She remembers when we lived near Snohomish how late the sun stayed up in summer, and how early it got dark in winter, and now she is even further north. I don't like getting up in the dark. i don't like getting up when it is light out either, but darkness just makes it harder. Since we can't change it, I just deal with it and wait for warmer weather to return. And it will, sooner than we think it will.
HippieChick58
Level 9
Dec 4, 2022
7
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