Happy Winter Solstice Northern Hemisphere!

[NMPalmjunky]

Winter Solstice is the first day of winter, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. To early cultures, the winter solstice was a day of both apprehension and celebration of the cold, dark winter and the promise of longer, warmer days to come.
 

Happy Summer Solstice to those in the Southern hemisphere too! 

[Darold Petty]

Today I will move palms from a shady area to a more sunny one.  This is the most gentle method for hardening off foliage. (and requires less effort on my part !)  

 

[Silas_Sancona]

" Winter "??  What is that??   








Think i need to make a sign stating     " Winter " =  ... Can be observed occasionally within the hours between 3 and 7AM only...  " 😁🤣

Enjoy

[Darold Petty]

37 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

" Winter "??  What is that??   










 

The seasonal temperature difference here is so slight that I may ground plant a palm later today, (if the light rainfall stops) !

[kinzyjr]

Now the days start getting longer.

[Silas_Sancona]

28 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

The seasonal temperature difference here is so slight that I may ground plant a palm later today, (if the light rainfall stops) !

You mean  ...." Sweatshirt on  -all  day,  and Sweatshirt worn between 3PM and 11AM.... "

[mike in kurtistown]

If my research is accurate, the latest sunrise occurs in mid-January and the earliest sunset occurs in late November. This is at 20 degrees latitude (like my location in Hawaii).  In between, the increase in the sunset time and the decrease in the sunrise time interact, making December 21 the shortest day of the year.

[Darold Petty]

5 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

The seasonal temperature difference here is so slight that I may ground plant a palm later today, (if the light rainfall stops) !

Well, I had a lengthy visit with a new palm grower, and there are only about two hours of daylight remaining, so I did not plant a palm.

Here are two images taken moments ago, of palms expanding a new frond on the winter solstice.  Pritchardia minor and Hedyscepe.

Read it and weep, growers living with real winters !    

[NMPalmjunky]

While the days start getting a minute or two longer each day moving forward, the daylight hours don’t really start accelerating for another month. I’m at 35 degrees north latitude, but I was only able to find a chart for 38 degrees north.

[Silas_Sancona]

19 minutes ago, NMPalmjunky said:

While the days start getting a minute or two longer each day moving forward, the daylight hours don’t really start accelerating for another month. I’m at 35 degrees north latitude, but I was only able to find a chart for 38 degrees north.

I use time and date to track sunrise /set  times ..etc. here..

Next month, we cross the " 1min added per day threshold " on the 12th, then start earlier sunrises on the 19th..  Deg-wise,  Sun angle at sunset starts at 243. By the start of Feb, we're back at 250 ..which we slipped under back on Nov. 8th.  Sunset was at 5:29PM that day.  Will set at 5:58PM on Jan. 31st ( ..When we're back at 250 deg. ).




October 10th was the last time that the sun set at 5:58PM, or later.

[NMPalmjunky]

2 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

I use time and date to track sunrise /set  times ..etc. here..

Next month, we cross the " 1min added per day threshold " on the 12th, then start earlier sunrises on the 19th..  Deg-wise,  Sun angle at sunset starts at 243. By the start of Feb, we're back at 250 ..which we slipped under back on Nov. 8th.  Sunset was at 5:29PM that day.  Will set at 5:58PM on Jan. 31st ( ..When we're back at 250 deg. ).




October 10th was the last time that the sun set at 5:58PM, or later.

@Silas_Sancona nice tracking! I wish we didn’t have daylight savings time to deal with. March 9th is when the days actually start to seem longer with a later sunset for the rest of us. Interestingly, part of Arizona (the Navajo Nation in the NE part of the state) observes daylight savings time. 

[Than]

Happy winter everyone; my favourite season! I hope all our tender tropicals make it through unscathed! 

(I'm still traumatized by the heatwaves [and spidermites] we had last summer, not looking forward to the next one...)

[Silas_Sancona]

16 minutes ago, NMPalmjunky said:

@Silas_Sancona nice tracking! I wish we didn’t have daylight savings time to deal with. March 9th is when the days actually start to seem longer with a later sunset for the rest of us. Interestingly, part of Arizona (the Navajo Nation in the NE part of the state) observes daylight savings time. 

It's definitely nice not having to change clocks -ever- lol.    Don't think i'd noticed any difference when i first moved here either.

Not sure why i notice it here, vs. other places lived but within a week of the sun starting to set later, i can tell how long twilight lingers each day as they get longer.

Back in San Jose, ..i may have started noticing the same thing each day in mid Feb.

Aside from sunset / sunrise, time and date is really good for tracking the moon, eclipses, etc as well.