On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:47:05 -0800, Stephen Black wrote: >I resisted my own contribution to this thread but can hold off no longer. >Some observations on the winter solstice:
And I have some observations on your observations >1) [snip] And it may be that it is my haircuts which cause the > sun to return. Thank you for the example of spurious correlation that I will use in class. >2) I think the main reason for appreciation of the solstice is that >people take it as indicating the point at which the day begins to last >just a little bit longer than the day before. It should be noted that the Winter Solstice is an astronomical event: it is the moment when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn, the greatest distance from the equator. The start and end of days is another, more complicated matter. See: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/dark_days >But in fact, this point is >reached about a week before the solstice. At the latitude where I live, >between December 4 and December 15th of this year the sun set at 4:11 >p.m. But on December 16, it set at 4:12 p.m. By the solstice yesterday, >around here we already had gained a full three minutes of daylight at the >end of the day. And I enjoyed every minute of it. Good for you! I hope that you spent the extra minutes of sunlight decorating your Festivus pole! >3) I have to register my protest against the designation of December 21 >as "the first official day of winter", as we are repetitively told by the >media. That may be true when defined in astronomical terms, but in normal >and historical usage, "winter" refers to the three coldest months of the >year which, in the Northern hemisphere, are December, January, and >February. Strictly speaking, this is not true as it depends upon the calendar conventions used in one's society. Quoting the Wikipedia entry on Winter (standard disclaimers apply: |In Celtic nations such as Ireland using the Irish calendar and in |Scandinavia, the winter solstice is traditionally considered as |midwinter, with the winter season beginning November 1 on |All Hallows or Samhain. Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc |or Candlemas, which is February 1 or February 2. This system |of seasons is based on the length of days exclusively. (The |three-month period of the shortest days and weakest solar radiation |occurs during November, December and January in the Northern |Hemisphere and May-July in the Southern Hemisphere.) |Also many mainland European countries tend to recognize |Martinmas, St. Martin's day (November 11) as the first calendar |day of winter. The day falls at midpoint between the old Julian equinox |and solstice dates. Also, Valentines Day (February 14) is recognized |by some countries as heralding the first rites of Spring (season), |such as flower blooming. |In Chinese astronomy (and other East Asian calendars), winter is |taken to commence on or around November 7, with the Jiéqì known |as (立冬 lì dōng, literally "establishment of winter".) |The three-month period associated with the coldest average |temperatures typically begins somewhere in late November or |early December in the Northern Hemisphere and lasts through |late February or early March. This "thermological winter" is earlier |than the astronomical definition but later than the daylight (Celtic) |definition. Depending on seasonal lag this period will vary among |climatic regions; typically warm-temperate climates have an earlier |thermological winter than colder climates. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter >In fact, December 22 (sometimes December 25) has historically >been called "midwinter's day" (and June 21 (or 24) is "midsummer's day"). >How can winter have just begun if it's already midwinter? Because it depends upon the culture's conventions for dating astronomical and seasonal events? That Cosmopolitan Dude, -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
