Posted by: Mi’kmaw Moons
HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE! Today has the least daylight of the year, 8 hours 48 minutes (in Halifax). The days get longer from now on! The longest night follows: 15 hours and 12 minutes.
The Sun is already setting a bit later, but the Sun also continues to rise later—it will start rising earlier on January 7. This oddity is due to the slightly squashed orbit of the Earth, which is not a perfect circle!
The changes are very small near the solstice. We probably won’t notice a real difference until Groundhog Day (early February) which is halfway to the Spring Equinox.
We have not seen much winter weather here in Mi’kma’ki yet. Will it continue to be mild or will we soon face the icy cold? The winter of 2015 seemed endless!
[Graphic calculated and plotted in Mathematica by Dave Chapman]