Not that I’m complaining, seriously. But I am curious about one thing, and that is the perception of time.
Experiencing my second December in Oregon, I have noticed that, with the sun setting so early, I tend to feel as if it’s a couple of hours later than it really is. At the moment it seems to be about 9:30 or 10 in the evening, but it’s really only just going on eight. Curiously, when I spent my junior year in Germany, even further north, I don’t remember ever noticing this. At that age I don’t think we tend to notice those external phenomena as much as we do when we’re older.
For those who have moved north, does this perception eventually go away? For those who have always lived in the higher latitudes, is it something you never even noticed or thought about? I’m unaware of any well inown English or German authors even mentioning the the short days of winter, or for that matter, the short nights of summer.
I’m in the Southern part of Wisconsin (close to Illinois) and it’s like that here as well. It’s even worse when you’re still in school. Getting dropped off in the morning while it’s still fairly dark out and only have an hour or two after school before the sun starts going down. Looking online, where I am, right now, sunrise is 7:15am and sunset is 4:18pm.
Luckily the days start getting longer again in just a little over a week. That should make it feel like it’s getting closer to spring, but realistically, we’ve still got 2-3 months of snow and bitter cold.
I know a handful of people that have lived in Alaska at one point or another. One thing that always stuck with is one a friend told me about a time when she had been at a bar drinking for a while. When she was walking out she commented to her friend that she didn’t realize how late it was or how long they’d been in there and her friend replied 'it’s only like 3:00 in the afternoon, it just always feels really late here".
It sounds like the day-length is about the same as here, though the sunset and sunrise times are different according to how far away the meridian of reference is.
I know Chefguy lives in Alaska, or used to live there. Maybe he’ll wander by.
I live “next door”. It’s always that way for a few weeks then you get used to it. Then in March, it goes the other direction because you can see spring walking down the street towards you, but reeeeeaaaallllyyyy ssssslllllooooowwwwwlllllyyyy
I’m in southern England. Sunrise today was 08:00 and sunset will be 15:55. At noon the sun was at 15.4 degrees. I’ve lived here for 25 years now after living various places in the US from Omaha in the north to Houston in the south. You get used to it and you can plan around it. I’m going out for a 2+ hour walk soon so need to leave now to get home before it gets too dark. I’ll also start by walking north first so that the (rare) low sun isn’t in my eyes.
Middle of Switzerland. Sunrise today was 08:06 and sunset will be 16:37. At noon the sun was at 20 degrees.
Our apartment faces south which means we get a lot of sun this time of year. When the sun’s out, of course.
Partially it depends on what I’m doing. Last few days I’ve been at home and it suddenly seems darker than it should be, considering the time. But if I’m at work, I really don’t notice the weather than much, despite having huge windows. The other issue is the mountains. The actual sunrise and sunset are a bit shifted because the mountains, which are south of us, block the sun at its lowest position. So our day is even shorter.
It’s important to not sleep in and waste the daytime. The day is already short enough.
Of course we have. Most people who live here, native born and otherwise, find nine hours of daylight in December and January depressing as all hell and frustrating. I try to take a walk at work every day because with a windowless office I only see daylight on my drive to work otherwise.
And if there’s anything that needs to be done outside…it has to wait until the weekend. This weekend is awful because it rained to the point of flood warnings all day yesterday, and today is windy as hell - I need to put out a solar light and I’m hoping not to get an unshakable chill because today’s my only opportunity to do it between now and Saturday.
I’ve been in Oregon for almost 25 years now and every single year when DST changes back I basically grab a load of carbs and hibernate until January sometime. On the other hand, in summer I’m like the freaking Energizer Bunny zooming around until all hours and barely acknowledge such a thing as night even exists. I suppose it all averages out more or less since I’m not dead of sleep deprivation. The gloomy months are certainly a trial though, SO not fun.
In America, I’ve always found that where you are located inside your time zone is a huge factor, sometimes moreso than the difference in latitude. (Within the lower 48 , thstvis) Because there’s going to be an hour difference in sunset time between the western edge of the time zone and the eastern edge.
But that is matched by the hour difference in the time of sunrise - the total amount of daylight will be the same (though of course, if you’re asleep at the time of sunrise, having the extra daylight at the end of the day makes a difference).
Another thing obnoxious about the shorter days, and at least for me, is one of the things that make sure I always notice them, is mowing the lawn. I typically get home from work either at 3:30pm or 7:30pm depending on the day. Once we start getting towards the end of summer, if I get home from work at 7:30, I can cut the grass if I do it right away, like, before I even have a chance to sit down for a few minutes. As fall drags on, I can only cut the grass on days I get home at 3:30, and even then I only have an hour or two before it’s dark.
For those that have never tried to mow the lawn when it gets dark out, you can’t do it. Don’t bother. Sure, you can push the mower all over your grass, but you might as well have your eyes closed while you’re doing it. It’s near impossible to see what you’ve cut and what you’ve missed. It’s a guessing game more than anything.
Plus, if it’s dark, regardless of the time, people are going to be annoyed at the noise.
OTOH, you can snow blow at 11pm and no one will think anything of it. Partially because the snow keeps the noise levels down (besides, the plows are loud and half the block is out doing it too) and partially because we all know it has to be done. This isn’t like cutting the grass where it just makes it look nicer. It’s a genuine hazard if you don’t do it.
And, unlike cutting the grass, in winter there’s more than enough ambient light at night with the snow reflecting everything.
I suppose if you’ve always lived your life in northern latitudes, then you’re used to it. As a Canadian, I’m used to short winter days, and long winter nights. Locally, today, the sun rose at 08:22, and set at 16:32, for example; and I’m not far north of the 49th parallel.
The furthest north I’ve ever lived was in Edmonton, Alberta, at 53 degrees North. Today, sunrise in Edmonton is at 08:45 and sunset at 16:15.
I guess that when you’re used to it, you just deal. On the other hand, in summer, the sun sets so late, that I can get in a full 18 holes of golf after work.
It’s 08:42 to 15:34 here today. I’ve always loved the darkness at this time of year since it’s so good for hygge type bonhomie. I like driving around in the countryside in total darkness and then coming into a brightly lit village, especially on the coast. It gets frustrating on a day off though when you need to curtail outdoor exercise, and I don’t like being in a city in persistent heavy rain during rush hour when it’s dark.
I was thinking yesterday about the difference between winter and summer at these latitudes - in winter you will probably have the headlights on at lunchtime if it’s overcast, in summer you can go for a couple of months without ever using full beam.
I’ve lived in England all my life and it still feels much later than it really is when the sun sets at 3:45 in the afternoon. Similarly I’m often surprised by how late it is in June when the sun is still up after 9pm. So I’d say you never get used to it. It’s harder getting up when it’s still dark, and very inconvenient being stuck in an office for the few hours of daylight; weekends are the only time to get things done. Also 23° isn’t bad at all, it was 13.5° here today.
I’m a little north of the 48th north parallel so we are down to about 8:20 of daylight. You get used to it (I’ve lived around here most of my life) and you learn how to take advantage of those short days when you can, particularly if the sun is out (it’s beautiful around here with the snow and sun). The opposite is our long summer days: Wake up at 5:00AM to sun and go to bed with the sun just having set.
