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The changing daylight hours thread


Boydie

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Posted
  • Location: Keyingham, East Yorkshire
  • Weather Preferences: Spanish plumes, hot and sunny with thunderstorms
  • Location: Keyingham, East Yorkshire

Today I was lucky to be off work but the moment I saw the deep blue skies I had that get up and go feeling. I didnt feel like a lie in as it was just too nice outside to waste. I would have thought otherwise if it had been dark grey and cold. It's even a pleasure to walk the 5 mins to work on a bright summers morning at 7 am opposed to a dark cold windy one in January.

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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

Today I was lucky to be off work but the moment I saw the deep blue skies I had that get up and go feeling. I didnt feel like a lie in as it was just too nice outside to waste. I would have thought otherwise if it had been dark grey and cold. It's even a pleasure to walk the 5 mins to work on a bright summers morning at 7 am opposed to a dark cold windy one in January.

Wow, 5 min *walk* to work, never done that before, used to walk to work (45 mins) and cycle (20mins), now it always needs a car, currently 20-25mins on traffic, closest I have been in years.

 

Agree these great days are worth embracing though whilst we have them.

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Posted
  • Location: Keyingham, East Yorkshire
  • Weather Preferences: Spanish plumes, hot and sunny with thunderstorms
  • Location: Keyingham, East Yorkshire

Wow, 5 min *walk* to work, never done that before, used to walk to work (45 mins) and cycle (20mins), now it always needs a car, currently 20-25mins on traffic, closest I have been in years.

 

Agree these great days are worth embracing though whilst we have them.

 

I have to drive 15 mins first before i reach a place to park my car for free instead of sticking it in a multi-storey. Then its a short walk.

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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

I have to drive 15 mins first before i reach a place to park my car for free instead of sticking it in a multi-storey. Then its a short walk.

Ahh right, thought you lived in the office/factory/shop/other *delete where applicable Posted Image

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Posted
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Weather Preferences: Ample sunshine; Hot weather; Mixed winters with cold and mild spells
  • Location: Berlin, Germany

Yes my 15 mins bike ride is lovely this time of year - an absolute pleasure during July it really was.

A cold damp January Monday morning is a whole different animal!

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

My second morning at 8 degrees, a little disappointing fo august

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

I find it very difficult to make out the Milky Way in my location, although binoculars easily resolve it in the Summer Triangle. I saw it perfectly in Australia, where the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius passes overhead. It's so bright and you can make out the central bulge, making it easy to visualise the shape of the galaxy. The Milky Way is also very bright in the southern sky (Norma, Crux, Carina). If you haven't seen the southern sky, you really need to.

 

Maybe it was because I'd spent some time abroad, but when I came back to Britain in May I immediately noticed how hard it was to get good viewing conditions at night thanks to the lingering twilight. It's something I'd never really thought about before.

Yes the southern sky is awesome, much better than ours. Saw it in New Zealand during their winter, Scorpius overhead and Vega just clearing the horizon. Eta Carinae, omega Centauri, Jewel Box and my favourite, 47 Tucanae- all way out of sight to us in the north, not to mention stars like Canopus and the Crux/Alpha-Beta Centauri area. Kept telling them that Polaris really is nothing special compared to that lot!

 

Not only do Scorpius/Sagittarius barely rise here, they appear in the evening during the lingering twilight season which makes it worse- I find the best time to see them is early in the morning in March/April.

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Posted
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.
  • Weather Preferences: Heavy disruptive snowfall.
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.

Yes my 15 mins bike ride is lovely this time of year - an absolute pleasure during July it really was.

A cold damp January Monday morning is a whole different animal!

 

A brutally cold Monday with a stonking blizzard is an even better animal, wont be long now again, I cant wait.

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Posted
  • Location: N.E. Scotland South Side Moray Firth 100m asl
  • Location: N.E. Scotland South Side Moray Firth 100m asl

Have always liked winter better than summer especially for physical work on the farm and always liked snow  especially when showers of snow came in from the  NE across the North Sea from Scandinavia .So it came as no surprise when 2 years ago I discovered that my surname is of Norse origin. So the nights drawing in is a sign that my favourite season is on its way.Thats not to say that in  late June I really like joining the Nordic countries in almost 24 hours of daylight and I frequently take photos of the midnight glow to the north acrooss the Firth.

Edited by Northernlights
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Posted
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Weather Preferences: Ample sunshine; Hot weather; Mixed winters with cold and mild spells
  • Location: Berlin, Germany

A brutally cold Monday with a stonking blizzard is an even better animal, wont be long now again, I cant wait.

 

Rather it were on a Sunday so I don't have to go to work in it and just play in it instead!

Only lost it 4 months ago you know... but probably another 4 months to go before much chance of it again so sadly/gladly you're only half way!

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Posted
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.
  • Weather Preferences: Heavy disruptive snowfall.
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.

Rather it were on a Sunday so I don't have to go to work in it and just play in it instead!

Only lost it 4 months ago you know... but probably another 4 months to go before much chance of it again so sadly/gladly you're only half way!

 

The closer you get, the better from my point of view, yes it is 4 months away realistically at best, barring an Oct 08 recurrence, but its like mid April when the snow was still on the mountains, I knew summer was coming so it still didn't feel great, but an early fall in November just whets the appetite! 

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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, Midlands. (Formerly DRL)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, thunder, hail & heavy snow
  • Location: Solihull, Midlands. (Formerly DRL)

Should a repeat of October 2008 occur (especially the 28th), it could mean as little as 2 and a half months to wait till the first flake of snow. That would be incredible. Although I'm probably filling myself up with a little bit too much optimism.

As for the daylight hours getting shorter and shorter, I find it is something that's kinda making me miss the slightly longer days of late-June/most of July. Have noticed the darkness outside sets in around an hour(ish) earlier, than it seemed to about a month ago, although the daylight still lasts long enough to be too much of a bother to me. While I'm generally not a fan of shorter daylight hours, there are some aspects I both like and dislike about it...

 

The Dark Side!:

> Makes getting up early in the mornings trickier.

> Feels like it restricts the outdoor activities you can do.

> More prone to worrying when walking past a noisy gang of people in the dark (although I know this probably won't be true to everyone).

> If you're a driver: the chances of driving in the dark becomes increasing likely and can be a little bit harder to see where you are going when it's dark.

 

The Bright Side:

> Makes the Christmas period feel festive.

> Snow can be magical to watch while falling past lampposts in the dark.

> Some people probably really enjoy driving in the dark.

 

These are just my personal opinions, though. And although I don't drive, I still feel driving in the dark can be problematic in that if you were in the passenger seat, and the driver is someone who dashes down a road as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog, you could be in big trouble! (e.g: the car could fly off a cliff, crash into a wall, smash into a tree etc). Something like this could obviously happen while it's daylight too, but I do think the dark makes it likelier to happen.

Edited by DiagonalRedLine
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Posted
  • Location: South Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm and sunny
  • Location: South Cheshire

A brutally cold Monday with a stonking blizzard is an even better animal, wont be long now again

Hopefully it is about 5 years away.

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Posted
  • Location: Sunderland
  • Weather Preferences: cold
  • Location: Sunderland

I like cold and dark roughly September to January, and maybe a little in Feb, but as soon as the festivities end, winter holidays end, I kind of lose the want of having cold weather, unless it's special (Feb 1-2 2009 etc). As soon as Feb goes on, I often can't wait for warm days, short nights etc.

Right now, I'm definitely in an autumn/winter mood- can't wait for the first few ground frosts and waking up in the dark, I know it sounds weird but I love it.

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

For me the disadvantages of the long dark evenings/nights heavily outweigh the advantages, except perhaps around Christmas when the teaditional Christmas lights look much better in the dark.  If I had my way we'd have a daylight distribution more like the North Island of New Zealand, with approximately 10 hours of daylight in winter and 14 hours in summer, and that way, while winters would still be quite dark, most of the working population would still have an hour or two of daylight either side of going to work, while he loss of a couple of hours in the summer would not be felt by many of us (though some of the earliest risers would be exceptions).

 

When the dark nights start drawing in I do start thinking of the first major snow events of the season, particularly those sunshine-and-snow-showers setups with the cold air flowing over the comparatively warm North Sea, and those first bright frosty mornings, but those positive thoughts are then dampened by all those memories of grey drizzly mornings with the temperature around 5C...

 

The nights drawing in haven't proved much of an issue for me so far, it tends to become more significant once we get into the final third of August.  Really, though, it is only after the change from BST to GMT at the end of October that the darkness sets in early enough to depress me.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

I like cold and dark roughly September to January, and maybe a little in Feb, but as soon as the festivities end, winter holidays end, I kind of lose the want of having cold weather, unless it's special (Feb 1-2 2009 etc). As soon as Feb goes on, I often can't wait for warm days, short nights etc.

Right now, I'm definitely in an autumn/winter mood- can't wait for the first few ground frosts and waking up in the dark, I know it sounds weird but I love it.

If you like cold and dark..September to January.......?  what is wrong with feb and march...it is just as dark and colder!!!!??

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Posted
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Weather Preferences: Ample sunshine; Hot weather; Mixed winters with cold and mild spells
  • Location: Berlin, Germany

Feb is darker than Sept or some parts of Oct!

 

Kinda agree with TWS - I do like our seasonal light extremes but the winter bit during the working week is pretty grim. The whole not seeing your house in daylight from 3:30pm Sunday to whenever you get up on next Saturday morning is very depressing.

Not sure about limiting summer daylength though - sure wouldn't want to loose any of the evening light although pre-6am is next to useless for most of us so that can go...

 

And yes 5c & dull/drizzly constitutes around 60% of the winter period and is the prime reason why I can't enjoy winter over other seasons. Sure those 2-3 days of snow is fun (well before it turns to slush/ice) and those odd sunny ice days are good too - but the other (on average) 8-9 weeks of it?! At least average summer weather is pleasant even if it isn't exciting nor especially warm.

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Posted
  • Location: South Yorkshire
  • Location: South Yorkshire

The whole not seeing your house in daylight from 3:30pm Sunday to whenever you get up on next Saturday morning is very depressing.

 

 

 

You wouldn't want to see my house in daylight... and I wish the pace of darkening evenings would get a move on - the current crawl is quite disabling.

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Posted
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet

Interesting that some focus on the grey stratocumulus murk however for me months like Nov 05 or Dec 10 are just so nice and sunny that its almost perfection.

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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)

Interesting that some focus on the grey stratocumulus murk however for me months like Nov 05 or Dec 10 are just so nice and sunny that its almost perfection.

Probably because that is the default weather setting for a UK winter...murky drizzly damp bland kind of mush..you might get a 2 weeks of cold and snow if you are lucky somewhere..otherwise i can see how a lot of the population get depressed esp in January.

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Posted
  • Location: Barnehurst nr Bexleyheath, Kent
  • Location: Barnehurst nr Bexleyheath, Kent

First time I have properly noticed the evenings are drawing in now was last night - it was getting pretty dusky just before 8pm.

 

Personally, I do love it when the nights start drawing in as I know my favourite time of the year is on it's way.  I just love Autumn and the start of winter (although by the middle-late Feb I am willing for spring).  I just love knowing that my birthday is coming up (although less so the older I am getting!), Guy Fawlks Night is on it's way, Christmas, my daughters Birthday and most importantly of all, the prospect of snow!

 

There's no point in arguing over peoples preferences and stating that you find it weird because someone doesn't agree with your personal preference (which on occassion comes out quite strongly in this thread) - I just don't get why we all just can't accept that we are all different and all have different tastes!

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Posted
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet

Probably because that is the default weather setting for a UK winter...murky drizzly damp bland kind of mush..you might get a 2 weeks of cold and snow if you are lucky somewhere..otherwise i can see how a lot of the population get depressed esp in January.

Bar the likes of winter 07 its really not too bad. A bit mild and dull yes but its rare that takes up the full winter. Most winters have a decent cold and dry spell.
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Posted
  • Location: Ireland - East Coast
  • Location: Ireland - East Coast

Of course what we need to do on September 21 stop the wobble back over the other side, or better still keep the earth at the same axis on June 21. Some form of large magnet on the moon perhaps? Anyway in a few hundred million years the days will be so long any intelligent life left on this planet will harp back to the good old days.

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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

Defo needed the lights on in the lounge this morning before 07:00, but to be fair it was cloudy and raining here too.

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