Today is one of the more notable days of the year for us northerners. It's the shortest day of the year! Winter solstice! It's the first day of winter! Days start getting longer after this!
Here the sun rose at 8:42 this morning and set at 16:25 this afternoon. This gives us 7 hours and 43 minutes of the sun being up. We had a clear frosty day. We had a high of minus 16 C( plus 3 F) and now at 8:30 it's minus 20 C(minus 5 F).
Most years I have watched very carefully as the days shortened and darkened. I looked at each day's sunrise and sunset. The shorter days caused me some tension. I did look forward to the shortest day as I knew things would get better. This year , all of a sudden it's the first day of winter and I'm surprised! I have not been following with dread the increasing darkness.
Many cultures have celebrations to mark the winter solstice. Now the day passes quietly.
So welcome to longer sunny days!
