Seasonal Comments

[ratherwhalering]

I just got another hour to look at the sunset. Happy whalering my friends.

[jimh]

I am fond of March 21, as that is the vernal equinox. It is great to have the declination of the Sun in the northern hemisphere for the next six months. It has been a long winter

I am also very fond of June 21, the summer solstice. Nautical twilight begins at 10:10 p.m. and extends to 11:00 p.m. at my place in northern Michigan.

Cf.: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@5003946

[Phil T]

A sure sign that spring will come. It will, won't it? Please.

(We had snow on March 17th in Kentucky)

[jimh]

Spring is here, Friday, March 20, 2026.

We are clear of snow in southeast Michigan, but up north at our cabin there is so much snow that my usual plowing contractor has not been able to keep up. However, there is only about one-foot on the ground, with higher drifts. It should be melting in the next few days.

Fig. 1. In this view looking due West the time was about our local noon and the Sun was almost on the equator. The latitude here is just north of 45-degrees. That accounts for the long shadows. Under all that snow is the driveway, marked with stakes. There usually are stakes on both sides, but it looks like the snow and wind has blown down all the ones on the south side of the driveway. The blue sky--that is only seen about one day out of ten.

north45-degrees.jpg (91.39 KiB) Viewed 1141 times