It has been very cold during the last two weeks or so. I took these photos
at 1:30 pm on 3 Dec and the current temperature at that time was -30F
(-34C), which was the first time this winter we have seen temperatures at
-30F or colder at our house, where these photos are from. It has been
colder in town, down in the valley, due to a temperature inversion when the
cold air presses down to the lowest places and it is actually a little
warmer in the hills where we are. But the inversion layer had thickened,
allowing the cold air to exist at slightly higher elevations so during the
last few days we have had much colder temperatures at home. We can always
tell when it gets this cold as we have to burn birch in our wood furnace
rather than aspen, which will not burn hot enough to keep the house warm
for long.
We have very little snow on the ground for this time of year. I measured
only 205 mm near my SIMB study plot. This is less than last year at this
time, when I measured 235 mm of snow. Our last snowfall of significant
depth was on 10 Nov.
We are fast approaching the shortest day of the year. On 3 Dec, when I took
these photos, the sun rose at 10:26 am and set at 2:58 PM, for a total of 4
hours and 32 minutes that the sun was up. However, since the sun is not
rising very high above the horizon we have a longer period of time when it
is a little light, although the sun is not officially above the horizon,
so-called civil-twilight (the center of the sun is 6 deg below the
horizon). On 3 Dec, Civil twilight began at 9:10 am in the morning and
ended in the evening at 4:14 pm. That stretches out the daylight a little
and makes us feel better this time of year when the sun does not appear for
long. We can say "Oh, the sun was not officially up, but it was at least
light enough to read by." Somehow that just makes the long dark hours a
little less interminable! And, actually, the darkness is quite beautiful.
Recently, the moon has been very, very bright in the clear nights and early
morning hours and it seems almost lighter then than during the daylight
hours.
Winter Solstice is only about 2 weeks away, when the sun will only be up
for 3 hours 41 minutes. That evening, our neighborhood will meet for our
annual solstice party and bonfire to celebrate the season. Only six months
to summer...
