The changing daylight hours thread

[I remember Atlantic 252]

10 minutes ago, Nick L said:

Sun is noticeably higher in the sky now and it actually felt pretty warm in my car when I got in it this afternoon. Spring is most definitely just around the corner.

yes and some people say Feb sun isn't strong, I know for definite Feb snow thaws due to sun more than Dec snow, cos sun is higher in the sky so shines on more surfaces, at least here anyway

Dec 15th to early Jan, yes probably mildest time of season, but sun shines on fewest surfaces

[Summer Sun]

1 hour ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

yes and some people say Feb sun isn't strong, I know for definite Feb snow thaws due to sun more than Dec snow, cos sun is higher in the sky so shines on more surfaces, at least here anyway

Dec 15th to early Jan, yes probably mildest time of season, but sun shines on fewest surfaces

Same here come February a lot more places get the sunshine so when it snows in Feb which is rare these days it does tend to melt quicker than November, December and the first half of Jan

[Frost HoIIow]

1 hour ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

yes and some people say Feb sun isn't strong, I know for definite Feb snow thaws due to sun more than Dec snow, cos sun is higher in the sky so shines on more surfaces, at least here anyway

Dec 15th to early Jan, yes probably mildest time of season, but sun shines on fewest surfaces

Feb sun isn't *strong* in this country. The UK is a long way north - this isn't Florida or Texas. The sun doesn't gain a lot of strength until late March give or take a week depending on where north/south you are in the UK. I worked in America & we had a snowfall in April yet it lasted 4 days on the ground in full sunshine, the dew point was below -10C in a very cold flow from Canada, it only very slowly melted over the course of those 4 days. That place was as far south as Spain. So the reason snow melts relatively quick in this country is because we rarely get a proper deep easterly flow and it's associated very low dew points, nearly all of our snow events in this country are marginal affairs from polar maritime and hence rarely very cold before or after. Snow won't stay for long at any time of year in marginal situations whether that be December or February.  Apart from extreme events like Dec 2010 when snow lasted a while on the ground but that wasn't because of the weak sun - it was mostly because of the very cold air over us.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

well in this location it does, as sun shines on more surfaces due to it being higher, in Dec my snow always thaws in the sun, but less due to lower sun angle, it's the height of the sun more than strength

[Frost HoIIow]

6 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

well in this location it does, as sun shines on more surfaces due to it being higher, in Dec my snow always thaws in the sun, but less due to lower sun angle, it's the height of the sun more than strength

They are both connected. Higher sun is stronger sun. But even now it's not high in the sky, nothing like in a couple of months from now. Where I am the sun today was the same strength as the start of November. I wouldn't call the sun *strong* at that time of year.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Frost HoIIow

[William Grimsley]

There's still daylight when I'm eating dinner now. It's great!

Edited February 9, 2016 by William Grimsley

[Frost HoIIow]

I know some of us have differential views on it & that is fine "agree to disagree" but to me a definition of a *strong* sun is when I can start to burn & for me that starts about the very end of March until about early to middle September at the latest. After that the sun to me has a lot less power to it here in Oldham. But if I lived in Southern France or Spain I could get burnt for much longer, probably into late October/start of November at the very southern point of Spain or Gibraltar, it loses it's strength even down there after that but not for very long it soon gains strength by late Jan/early Feb when you can start to burn if the sun is out. Of course all the above factors are dependent on skin tone. I'm not very pale like someone with red hair so I do tan, some people burn more easily than others.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Frost HoIIow

[cheese]

48 minutes ago, Frost HoIIow said:

They are both connected. Higher sun is stronger sun. But even now it's not high in the sky, nothing like in a couple of months from now. Where I am the sun today was the same strength as the start of November. I wouldn't call the sun *strong* at that time of year.

Not strong, but noticeable. You can definitely feel it, unlike in December where it is basically nothing and the max temp can occur at all sorts of random hours. I was on the bus today and it was making my arm feel very warm through the glass. 

Edited February 9, 2016 by cheese

[March]

For me strong sun is when you start to feel it on your skin. There's a period of the year when you can hardly feel it through glass, let alone when outside. We're past that now though! I know as the cat has been finding the sunshine patches on the floor again! 

[reef]

Its actually surprising how much the sun has risen in the sky since the solstice at this time of the year.

On 22nd December the sun reached a height of 12.82 degrees here at solar noon. Today (10th February) it will be 21.74 degrees.

In a week it'll be 24.71 degrees and by 1st March it'll be 28.88 degrees.

Its noticeable even over a few days at this point in the year.

Try it here if you fancy a play:

http://www.sunearthtools.com/dp/tools/pos_sun.php

Edited February 10, 2016 by reef

[Guest]

With this current Winter and the lack of a real snowy spell, I will be excited for Spring which is right around the corner.

[hillbilly]

The daylight is about the same now as it was when the clocks are changed in October,a shame they cannot be changed forward now instead of having to wait another 6 weeks !

[Weather-history]

Talk about the sun being stronger etc, isn't it in reality to say that the true sun strength is actually getting weaker now? Perihelion was early January, we are actually moving away  from the sun in our orbit, aphelion is in early July. About 7% weaker than at perihelion? 

It's the earth's axial tilt that gives the impression of differing sun strength. 

 

Edited February 14, 2016 by Weather-history
.

[ManiaMuse]

On 13/02/2016 at 11:58 AM, hillbilly said:

The daylight is about the same now as it was when the clocks are changed in October,a shame they cannot be changed forward now instead of having to wait another 6 weeks !

Agree that is stupid, wait another two weeks before changing the clocks back in October and change them forward two weeks earlier in March I say.

Or get rid of the whole thing altogether and let the Scots do what they want if they still want daylight saving.

On the plus side I'm cycling into work in daylight and will only be another week or so before my cycle home from work is still daytime as well.

[Backtrack]

Yes indeed! The time will soon come when I start my yearly 'UK Tanning Season' thread . It's roughly 4-5 weeks until we start to see the first moderate UV indexes of the year appear in the South West. This is exciting! The sun was lovely when I was driving to work this morning at 7:50am. It's most noticeable when we have blue skies, it's a shame they're not present more often; there's been a real lack of anti-cyclonic spells for some time now. So I'm hoping they're saving themselves for late spring and summer when we can really benefit from it. 

I'm excited for spring! May is my favourite month of the year. Can be lovely and cool in the mornings and scorching hot in the afternoon.

 

Please god, let this summer be a good one!

[Carl46Wrexham]

45 minutes ago, Backtrack said:

Yes indeed! The time will soon come when I start my yearly 'UK Tanning Season' thread . It's roughly 4-5 weeks until we start to see the first moderate UV indexes of the year appear in the South West. This is exciting! The sun was lovely when I was driving to work this morning at 7:50am. It's most noticeable when we have blue skies, it's a shame they're not present more often; there's been a real lack of anti-cyclonic spells for some time now. So I'm hoping they're saving themselves for late spring and summer when we can really benefit from it. 

I'm excited for spring! May is my favourite month of the year. Can be lovely and cool in the mornings and scorching hot in the afternoon.

 

Please god, let this summer be a good one!

After such a ludicrously poor winter we certainly need one.

 

[Summer of 95]

Could still see the sun after 5pm, that's always a landmark

[markyo]

Really dreading the longer days,very obvious now that the light is extending,that part is bad enough waking up to streaming sunlight,its the warmth and humidity coupled with the summer hours which makes like so miserable for myself. How people enjoy it is beyond me.

[interested & confused]

6 minutes ago, markyo said:

Really dreading the longer days,very obvious now that the light is extending,that part is bad enough waking up to streaming sunlight,its the warmth and humidity coupled with the summer hours which makes like so miserable for myself. How people enjoy it is beyond me.

I can never understand how some people like the cold and dark - it's very hard to understand the opposite point of view.

So it's just as well that we get seasons which balance things out to some extent

[Nick L]

1 minute ago, interested & confused said:

I can never understand how some people like the cold and dark - it's very hard to understand the opposite point of view.

So it's just as well that we get seasons which balance things out to some extent

I don't mind the light, but I do mind 4am daylight that wakes you up too early, and 10pm daylight in midweek that seems to give louty neighbours licence to make noise until all hours of the night.

We have too little light in winter and too much in summer.

[markyo]

12 minutes ago, interested & confused said:

I can never understand how some people like the cold and dark - it's very hard to understand the opposite point of view.

So it's just as well that we get seasons which balance things out to some extent

Very good point,understanding a totally opposite point of view never comes easy to any of us! Liked your comment about the balance of our seasons,everybody to their own.

[Cheshire Freeze]

7 hours ago, Backtrack said:

Yes indeed! The time will soon come when I start my yearly 'UK Tanning Season' thread . It's roughly 4-5 weeks until we start to see the first moderate UV indexes of the year appear in the South West. This is exciting! The sun was lovely when I was driving to work this morning at 7:50am. It's most noticeable when we have blue skies, it's a shame they're not present more often; there's been a real lack of anti-cyclonic spells for some time now. So I'm hoping they're saving themselves for late spring and summer when we can really benefit from it. 

I'm excited for spring! May is my favourite month of the year. Can be lovely and cool in the mornings and scorching hot in the afternoon.

 

Please god, let this summer be a good one!

If only we could get some decent storms. I certainly remember April and May being a lot more convective when I was younger, indeed I remember some very good storms in May when I was a kid. It's just a perpetual autumn nowadays. People say we're lurching towards extremes.....not round here we're not! It has been years and years since I've had a storm which I could class as truly memorable. Possibly August 2007 was the last one? Rivers of hail....Interesting!

Edited February 15, 2016 by CreweCold

[hillbilly]

1 hour ago, markyo said:

Really dreading the longer days,very obvious now that the light is extending,that part is bad enough waking up to streaming sunlight,its the warmth and humidity coupled with the summer hours which makes like so miserable for myself. How people enjoy it is beyond me.

You obviously come from a line of miners !

[hillbilly]

53 minutes ago, Nick L said:

I don't mind the light, but I do mind 4am daylight that wakes you up too early, and 10pm daylight in midweek that seems to give louty neighbours licence to make noise until all hours of the night.

We have too little light in winter and too much in summer.

Buy some decent curtains,it does not wake me up and have no problem when I have to go to bed early either !

[markyo]

1 minute ago, hillbilly said:

Buy some decent curtains,it does not wake me up and have no problem when I have to go to bed early either !

East facing bedroom,can't stand the summer months,best part of the day is the sunrise,such a total waste at 4 am!!!