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Winter solstice takes place December 21-22nd- which is the summer solstice for our friends below the equator..'down under'
Actually the earliest sunset has passed here at latitude 42 north a few days ago (4:20PM EST) Yesterday and today sunset is at 4:21 and by Friday 4:22- however sunrise is still occurring later in the morning- the latest Sunrise is around January 6th- therefore the shortest day equals out to be on about December 21st for astronomical purposes.
Good thing is the period of earliest darkness here is over- and gradually we will see more light in the afternoon. Mornings are still very dark.
This is a slight quirk of the suns angle on the ecliptic to the horizon that makes these differences.
For example- on June 21st the Summer solstice- the latest sunset does not happen till around June 28th-while the earliest sunrise occurs around June 12th.
Yup, the days start getting longer. And colder. Wonder why that is? You'd think, the longer days would be warmer cause they have more sun.
In theory that sounds correct, but temperatures in most of North America during winter are very dependent on eastern Siberia conditions than our own continent. There are huge high pressure bubbles that sit over east Siberia which create super cold air masses, especially at the interior plateau areas where it gets colder than any other place on earth besides interior Antarctica. Eastern Siberia is at or above the Arctic Circle and has little or no sunlight from November until February, and unlike Alaska it has no ocean currents bringing in temperate air from the west. On the eastern Siberia plateau the temperatures remain at -40 to -50 for weeks at a time, with some temps falling to -60 or lower. The lower pressure zones over North America pull the cold air from eastern Siberia across the polar regions and down into central Canada and the USA. The cold air will take the path of least resistance, which usually means right down the great plains or great lakes regions and then it fans out to many other parts of Canada + USA until it clashes with the warmer air from the Pacific, Gulf or Atlantic. Eastern Siberia doesn't start to break out of the extreme cold until until March when the sun finally starts to shine there enough hours per day to have an impact on temperatures, so that's when most of the central and eastern US also notices a transition from winter to Spring.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Originally Posted by ElkHunter
Yup, the days start getting longer. And colder. Wonder why that is? You'd think, the longer days would be warmer cause they have more sun.
Not here in Atlanta. Our coldest days are usually around late December and it starts to slowly warm after about the middle of January. Of course our climate here is different than most of the country because we are on a plateau with mountians to the north and the costal plains to the south.
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