Except for you poor schlubs "down under." ) The one thing I Hate, HAte, HATe, HATE about winter is it gets so DARK. At my latitude as you can see from the picture, Sunrise was about 6:46, sunset 4:46. It only will get better. I think I finally have a clue why my English ancestors left blighty sometime between 1850 and arrived here sometime before 1860. I hazard a guess that given that my great-granddad was a miner, and his father...presumably HIS immigrant granddad was also a miner. Given the latitude up there, they would have gone down the mines before sunrise and come up after sunset this time a year. I think they must have moved here just to see some chance of seeing a bit of daylight in the winter months.
Update 5:43 a.m., Saturday 22:
What's with this 39 degrees stuff? Jeez, a little precipitation, 7 degrees lower, and there could be white stuff on the ground! About 40 years ago it snowed out in El Cajon. It's not unusual to get snow in our mountains in north county if conditions are "just so" but not in town. Supposed to go up to 67 degrees though later today. No wonder half the county is trying to give their colds to the other half of the county. Let's just say, that in my time here I have seen people wear long bermuda shorts and a sleeveless shell skiing vest. No one bats an eye. Though even today might be too cold for those shorts.
Update noon 12/22/07:
There now, that's better. For anyone wishing to visit San Diego, our best month is often April, IMO. The daytime and nighttime temps are pleasant, the nighttime temps don't require much of anything other than a light zip up jacket. If you wait just a little later you'll get "May Gray/June Gloom" phenomenon. Temps are fine, but the marine layer hangs around too long and doesn't really burn off until almost afternoon then rolls in again along the coast at 5ish. July and August see crowded "everything." September and October can be fire season. Nice, but......
8 comments:
You know what? It could be worse. You're getting about an hour and a half more daylight than I am.
You're getting *more* than an hour and a half more daylight than I am, in fact. Sunrise in Greater Manchester today was 8.20am; sunset will be at 3.50pm.
Stephen! Precisely, honey, precisely. We had about 10 hours of daylight, you have less than 9! It doesn't surprise me that they have such a high suicide rate in Alaska or Scandanavia!
I see you have spotted the Common California Toureesta! which migrates here in the winter thinking we have summer all year long. In San Francisco there's an annual hunt where they chase them down with cable cars!
My last job in London, the department where I worked was in the basement - so there were a couple of months in the year, at least, where I went to work basically in the dark, left work basically in the dark, and saw daylight on my lunch break only.
It was not fun.
The flip side of all this, of course, is that in mid-summer we have very long days - where I am, it's light in mid-summer by 5am, and it doesn't get properly dark until after 10pm. But winter here, yes, is depressing - particularly here in the north-west, where it rains a lot. Even in daylight hours today, there wasn't any sunshine (there was yesterday, however, but the daytime high here yesterday was -1. It was warmer today).
Stephen one thing i always wanted to see was the Northern lights - have you ever gotten to see them? I know you wouldn't normally -- but....
My mother said when she was a little girl, there was some really weird total fluke that happened in the late 30s where they saw them as far south as she lived in Pennsylvania. She said she never forgot the sight.
Karen
No, I've never seen the Northern Lights - the only times I've ever been far enough north (in Sweden and Canada) have been in midsummer - so I *have* experienced a midsummer day without nightfall, which was more than a little bizarre.
Stephen, that would have been cool (the sunsetless days.) I'm sure they must go bonkers in winter though. Cue Night Waltz I.
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