At last the evenings are getting lighter.

buzyg

buzyg

Legend
 Cornwall
Great news lads & Lasses as of tonight the evenings are getting longer again. :thumbsup: Soon be summer 8)

Still a few more weeks until the mornings start getting lighter though. :?
 
Correct, I think it's actually the 21st, hence the mornings are still getting darker. :wink:
 
wahoooo!!!!! that is great news!! with the mild temps its been relatively painless so far in the midlands, lots of rain however. But january FEB can be stinkers if mother nature decided to blow a freeze on us!
 
Ok, prepared to be shot down in flames here, but... I thought the shortest day was the 21st... How can evenings be getting lighter earlier than that :?
 
Bing, you're correct but so is Buzyg. For those who can't be bothered to read the whole of this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30549149 I've quoted the relevant section:

BBC website said:
Well, the primary reason behind it all is that a day - a solar day to be precise - is not always exactly 24 hours.

"In fact, it is 24 hours only four times a year, and never in December," explains astronomer Stephen Hurley, who runs a popular science blog called The Science Geek. "It is at its shortest around 23 hours 59 minutes and 30 seconds, in early September, and at its longest around 24 hours 30 seconds in December."

There are two reasons why the length of the solar day varies, the first being the fact that the axis of the Earth's rotation is tilted - 23.5 degrees from vertical - and second, the Earth's speed varies because it moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun, accelerating when it is closer to the star's gravitational pull and decelerating when it is further away. The sun therefore in effect lags behind the clock for part of the year, then speeds ahead of it for another.

"As you can imagine, it would be complete chaos if our clocks and watches had to cope with days of different lengths," continues Hurley. "So we use 24 hours, the average over the whole year, for all timekeeping purposes. So, as the solar days in December are on average 24 hours and 30 seconds, while our clocks and watches are still assuming that each day is exactly 24 hours, this causes the day to shift about 30 seconds later each day."

This cumulative shifting explains why the evenings draw in towards their earliest sunset a couple of weeks before the shortest day, and why the mornings continue to get darker until a couple of weeks after.
Click to expand...
 
Bing said:
Ok, prepared to be shot down in flames here, but... I thought the shortest day was the 21st... How can evenings be getting lighter earlier than that :?
Click to expand...

Consider your self shot Bing. :lol: Very glad some one else explained it before I tried to. :wink:
Just knew that the wonderful people of this forum would have a bit of fun with this one. :D
 
-Tom- said:
This has actually cheered me up :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Cheered me up too. :thumbsup:

The reason I spotted it was because I'm forever checking how much daylight I have for surfing after work, this time of year. and noticed the sunset time was getting earlier from the 14th on ward, not the 21st :roll: Great to now know the reason. :thumbsup:
 
buzyg said:
-Tom- said:
This has actually cheered me up :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Cheered me up too. :thumbsup:

The reason I spotted it was because I'm forever checking how much daylight I have for surfing after work, this time of year. and noticed the sunset time was getting earlier from the 14th on ward, not the 21st :roll: Great to now know the reason. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Did you mean the sunset time is getting later from the 14?
I would expect the sunset time to be getting earlier until the 21st (the shortest day)
 
Smartbear said:
buzyg said:
-Tom- said:
This has actually cheered me up :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Cheered me up too. :thumbsup:

The reason I spotted it was because I'm forever checking how much daylight I have for surfing after work, this time of year. and noticed the sunset time was getting earlier from the 14th on ward, not the 21st :roll: Great to now know the reason. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Did you mean the sunset time is getting later from the 14?
I would expect the sunset time to be getting earlier until the 21st (the shortest day)
Click to expand...

Nope it's from the 14th, something I observed by chance and explained in BMWZ4MC post above. Apparently the Days are a minute longer in December than in September.

Just when you thought you knew how to tell the time. :wink:
 
Smartbear said:
buzyg said:
-Tom- said:
This has actually cheered me up :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Cheered me up too. :thumbsup:

The reason I spotted it was because I'm forever checking how much daylight I have for surfing after work, this time of year. and noticed the sunset time was getting earlier from the 14th on ward, not the 21st :roll: Great to now know the reason. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Did you mean the sunset time is getting later from the 14?
I would expect the sunset time to be getting earlier until the 21st (the shortest day)
Click to expand...

Sunset is getting later each day but sunrise also gets later each day. It's not by huge amounts but by the end of the week sunset will be about 2 mins later than at the start but then sunrise is also about 2 mins later too.

Come the 21st the sunrise time will start to recede and the sunset time continue to get later.

If you check the Met office it will advise on the sunrise and sunset times over the week :thumbsup:

It also helps that the rain seems to have subsided a bit so the sky's not constantly dull!
 
Not to depress anyone, but it's only been 7.5 weeks since the clocks changed, 14 weeks to go until they change again!

I wish it was only 4 months rather than 5.... I still don't understand why it's such an uneven split from when the clocks change to the shortest day, almost 2 months, then we have to endure 3 months at the other side. End of Oct to end of Feb would be much better!
 
buzyg said:
Soon be summer 8)
Click to expand...
With the current warm temperatures it pretty much feels like summer and I want December to be cold and feel wintery and not the silly 15 degrees that we have now.

We had a mild Christmas day last year too so I guess its something we have to get used to and cold winters are a thing of the past now.
 
Angie4m said:
Smartbear said:
buzyg said:
Cheered me up too. :thumbsup:

The reason I spotted it was because I'm forever checking how much daylight I have for surfing after work, this time of year. and noticed the sunset time was getting earlier from the 14th on ward, not the 21st :roll: Great to now know the reason. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Did you mean the sunset time is getting later from the 14?
I would expect the sunset time to be getting earlier until the 21st (the shortest day)
Click to expand...

Sunset is getting later each day but sunrise also gets later each day. It's not by huge amounts but by the end of the week sunset will be about 2 mins later than at the start but then sunrise is also about 2 mins later too.

Come the 21st the sunrise time will start to recede and the sunset time continue to get later.

If you check the Met office it will advise on the sunrise and sunset times over the week :thumbsup:

It also helps that the rain seems to have subsided a bit so the sky's not constantly dull!
Click to expand...

Nope this is incorrect Angie. The sunsets have all ready started getting later. The Sunrise will not start getting earlier until the first week of January. The 21/22 is just the shortest day. Though as a solar day it's actually about 24 hours and 30 seconds long. :?

See link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30549149 kindly supplied by BMWZ4MC.
 
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