Sun on a clear day feels weak. why? (hot, record, rainfall)

[JetsNHL]

Are you comparing the same time of the year? I think both places are similiar in latitude.

The time difference would lead to different UV indexes.

today it is 22 and clear while the uv is only 6 and it is chilly IMO.

[RWood]

Until he answers my question, his statement at the start of the thread says very little or nothing.

[koyaanisqatsi1]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

I think I notice a big difference between bunbury WA sun and sun in Newcastle nsw. I remember boasting about how warm I felt in bunbury in the sun on a 19 C (67 f) day

I seriously question this comment. The sun felt quite strong today under the N airflow - naturally didn't once the flow turned cold SW - and to be fair I spent 6 weeks (June/July) in Europe so discounting that period, probably the first time I have taken my jumper off in about 3 months here.

[dhdh]

Has anyone ever experienced 90° sunlight? I once spent an hour sitting on a bench in a park in late March in Singapore at around 2pm. There were a few rapidly passing clouds though. Quite strong but nothing unmanageable I didn't get sunburnt but my neck got really tanned

[Patricius Maximus]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Has anyone ever experienced 90° sunlight?

No, nor do I care to experience anything even approaching directly-overhead sun. Even 60° sunlight is too high and strong for my taste.

On another note, my internal body clock seems to be calibrated to a high-latitude location, since when it gets to a certain angle my body thinks it's noon but it's actually only 8 or 9 o'clock. Once it gets higher than that my body's "internal sensors" go wacko and it goes into the "unimaginably high" category (as far as my instinct is concerned). This is mostly a summer problem. In winter my instinct works quite well.

[Weatherfan2]

90 degree sun should be less able to burn you as it's only shining on top of your head rather than right in your face for example. So it's easy to shelter your face with a hat. Also if you have loads of hair like me. Low sun that shines in your eyes is far worse. A

[RWood]

Yes I have, in November at about 16S. Some days were clear and sunny, didn't bother me.

[ben86]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Has anyone ever experienced 90° sunlight? I once spent an hour sitting on a bench in a park in late March in Singapore at around 2pm. There were a few rapidly passing clouds though. Quite strong but nothing unmanageable I didn't get sunburnt but my neck got really tanned

Not quite but I've experienced a 88-degree sun angle in Guatemala at about 2000 metres altitude. To someone who'd never seen it before the combination of gentle temperatures with a sun that felt like what you'd expect if you set up mirrors specifically to magnify it was pretty otherworldly, though oddly I didn't get burnt like I thought I would.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by dhdh

Has anyone ever experienced 90° sunlight? I once spent an hour sitting on a bench in a park in late March in Singapore at around 2pm. There were a few rapidly passing clouds though. Quite strong but nothing unmanageable I didn't get sunburnt but my neck got really tanned

Yep, 18N in June and July. My almost black hair managed it without a scratch whenever I come back from PR during the summer, I come back mulatto brown

[ColdCanadian]

Hi guys and girls,

I've been too busy working that's why I didn't reply yet.

Okay, I noticed many things looking at the sky on a clear day:

(1) Standing up, sun angle making my shadow about 8m/30 ft long, when extend my hand and angle it for the sharpest,
smallest shadow-image of my hand I was looking at my finger shadows.
I actually needed to spread my fingers 2cm (0.8 inch) appart just to see each finger clearly.

In Western Australia, I remember that shadow-unsharpness was almost non-existent.
I spent a year there, long enough to wonder if noticeable shadow-unsharpness even existed on Earth,
or was I just imagining what I thought I saw in Toronto.

By contrast, in Mandurah at the beach,
I played with my shadow at a similar sun angle and if I had to guess the level of shadow-unsharpness,
I would only have to spread my fingers maybe 0.8 cm or 1/8 inch?

(2) The sun on a clear day has a massive halo around it, the size I have never seen in Australia.
If you measure it like a frame around the outline of the sun, then the halo is nearly double the width of the halo I saw in Townsville,
definitely more than double the size I saw in Western Australia

Why this bothers me:

- Most of the time when I've been in Australia, if the temperature was too chilly,
I could almost always feel warm by stepping out into the sun, a
s long as the sun was say 15 degrees or higher. (ie. 1+ hours before sunset or after sunrise)

- I'd use the strength of the sun's infrared to warm me when I was swimming in just a bathing suit.
In Western Australia I can actually feel warm at 21 C/ 70 F and clear skies, even with a 20km/h (14mph) wind, even with a damp bathing suit

-My experience is that climates with sun that has large halos and climates with sun that has small halos (like Florida)
this is not a condition that changes with weather patterns, but seems to be a permanent feature of the geography

- In my opinion, the sky could be completely clear for a full day and it still might never be "sunny enough" for me in Newcastle, NSW.

-It annoys me when the sun strength is mild, if I'm only outside for short periods.
I suppose if I know I'm going to be outside for more than 2 hours, then yes, the mild sun of Newcastle is probably a good thing...
but I don't often spend more than 2 hours out in the sun continuously.

- Infrared radiation is very sensitive and is more readily filtered than UV.
So if there is only 1/2 the infrared output in Newcastle vs. Perth, the UV filtering is probably still less than 1/5th or less than 20% reduction in UV.
It's a lose-lose; not much "sun protection" at the expense of a massive drop in infrared.

Causes?

- Coal dust? This area is a famous coal producer.
Carbon dust I read somewhere is an excellent reflector of sun infrared and when it's spread around the atmosphere
(volcanic eruption?) then there's a noticeable cooling effect.

- Humidity? Ground level humidity seems to be irrelevant to sun halo and makes little difference in sun infrared.
Winters in southwestern Australia are extremely humid in terms of relative humidity. My cars windows always had dew on them.
But the winter sun at 8am was powerful enough, you almost feel like you could get a tan.
Maybe there's something going on with the humidity at higher altitudes here though.

If I can find out the source of Newcastle's massive sun halos and piddly sun infrared output...
then it will help me find the closest place where I can find strong sunshine to go on holidays.

Thoughts?

Thanks.