Solar Based Spring (warm, days, place, seasons)

[pdm_ad]

I celebrate spring every 1st of February. Solar based spring that is. Maybe this is my Festivus? Who knows. But this is what I mean -

Look at the sun's declination on the 1st of every month and a pattern quickly emerges. Feb, Mar and Apr the sun really flies back north, at a clip of about 10/11 degrees per month. It slows in May, moving about 7 degrees, hardly moves at all in June and south about 4 degrees in July - solar summer. August is the start of solar fall when the sun moves 10 degrees south and it continues that pace in Sep and Oct. Nov, Dec and Jan are the Winter months.

Which brings us back to February. I welcome that passage back north every year with open arms. I might even celebrate it with a malted beverage or two. The contrast from the beginning of the month to the end is quite dramatic; the sun angle is such where even on a cold day my car is toasty warm on the inside. Tulips and other plants start their growth after being triggered by the longer days and birds begin to reappear from their winter grounds.

And for us our weather has followed the solar spring calendar this year. We had one cold week in Feb but have since had some warmer weather, some of our trees have even started budding.

Anyway, happy Spring everyone.

[cjg5]

I've noticed the "movement" of the sun with the seasons for years. In the summer the sun sets to the northwest behind the Olympic Mountains. We get sun in the late evening hours right before sunset down the north side of our building in the summer. In the winter it doesn't even come close, and sets to the southwest of the Olympic Mountains.

The tilt of the Earth on its axis causes this and is directly related to the changing of the seasons.

[Reptoid Humidian]

Ahh, yes! You have to love that Analemma curve! And if you're fortunate enough to live in a place like Miami, the sun starts getting the summer look around mid March!

[dhdh]

I've always thought the same way as you do. Early February was always a relief for me as I knew the dark Nov-Dec-Jan period was over Especially when I used to live in France. In Hong Kong it was quite the opposite though, February is the beginning of the "sunshine winter", with a cloudiness maximum in the Feb-Mar-Apr season. Despite that, did you know that the Chinese calendar's seasons are entirely solar based? Their spring starts in early Feb, while their mid Autumn festival is around September 21.

[Weatherfan2]

No February is just another long, depressing cold and cloudy winter month in England. Don't get the feel of spring here until May or maybe April if you're lucky and the sun is still weak as damn.