Winter solstic 2019

This year the winter solstice was on 22 December, at 4.19 am UK time.

The winter solstice occurs in December, and in the northern hemisphere the date marks the 24-hour period with the fewest daylight hours of the year. That is why it is known as the shortest day of the year, or the longest night of the year. There are 7 hours 49 minutes of daylight on the shortest day.

The winter solstice occurs at the minimum point for the northern hemisphere, when the Sun is lowest in the sky.

This is also the start of the astronomical winter. Although confusing it is also known as mid winter!
This year the winter has been unseasonably wet and there have been no good sunrises due to the clouds. This one was taken 10th Dec - 

This one on 18th Dec sun rays and mist -

At least on the solstice on the 22nd, the rain had finally stopped by dawn and it brightened somewhat.

Autumn equinox 2017

22 September 2017 - the first day of autumn and the autumn equinox.

“Equinox” (equal night) is when the sun spends the same amount of time above and below the horizon with the tilt of the Earth exactly the same so it is not slanted away or towards the sun, thus making the hours of darkness and light equal.

“Solstice,” (sun stands still) is when the sun stops before reversing its direction causing sunlight to reach the southernmost and northernmost extremes of the Earth and providing them with longer nights and days.

Both an equinox and solstice happen twice each year. An equinox happens at a specific moment in time unlike the solstice which happens in days.

The solstice happens during summer and winter when the sun is the farthest away. The summer solstice is when days of sunlight are the longest, and the winter solstice is when the days of darkness are also the longest.

The equinox happens during the start of autumn and spring, the time when the sun is closest to the equator.

Having said that, there are still different ideas as to when autumn starts. It depends whether you follow the meteorological or astronomical calendar. There's three weeks difference between them both.

In meteorological terms autumn begins on September 1 and ends on November 30. The meteorological calendar uses the Gregorian calendar to split up the four seasons into three month blocks, which, according to the Met Office, makes it easier to observe forecasting and compare seasonal statistics.

Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Autumn: September, October, November
Winter: December, January, February

However the astronomical calendar says autumn starts on Sept 22 this year. Astronomers base the date of the seasons upon celestial events, in autumn's case the autumnal equinox, when night and day are roughly equal length.

It was mostly a miserable summer in the UK weatherwise. The decent weather left after mid July and the rest of the summer was generally cool, cloudy and wet, with the exception of the August bank holiday weekend (28 Aug). There was an autumnal feel the last 2 weeks of August, with the nights drawing in, cooler air and a few leaves turning brown. Blackberries were ready in July, which is particularly early.

By the autumn equinox, although it felt autumnal, it still looked mostly like summer, as few trees had started to turn brown. 22 Sept in London was beautifully sunny with a clear blue sky.

The exception to this is the 'conker trees'. Many of the horse chestnut trees have a disease caused by a fungus, Guignardia aesculi. It is known as Guignardia leaf blotch, as it shows as brown blotches on the leaves and as seems to be the case, the whole leaf turns brown. The horse chestnut or conker trees have been turning brown since July, due to the blotch, not autumn. The conkers started falling around the end of August.

Summer solstice 2017 & Ramadan

The summer solstice, 21 June 2017 was also the hottest day for more than 40 years, in fact since 1976. At London Heathrow the temperature reached 34.5 C.

From BBC :

Hottest June day since summer of 1976 in heatwave

21 June : The UK is basking in its hottest June day in 41 years, with a temperature of 34.5C (94F) recorded at Heathrow.
The Met Office reading at the London airport is the highest in June since the mercury hit 35.6 (96F) in 1976 - the all-time high since records began.
The heatwave has seen five sizzling days in a row during which temperatures in parts of the UK have topped 30C.
But weather warnings have also been issued for rain, with thunderstorms expected in some areas.
BBC weather presenter Chris Fawkes said: "To have these really prolonged spells, you need a block of high pressure that directs other weather fronts away.
Then we get the hot weather coming up from Europe."
Storms are forecast for some areas later in the day, and yellow weather warnings for rain in parts of England, Wales and Scotland are in place until the early hours of Thursday.
Our presenter added: "It is all going to go bang tonight.
"The hot air from the surface will meet with colder air coming in from the Atlantic and we will have some big thunderstorms, gusty winds, heavy rain and, in some places, even hail.
--
And as I type this on 22nd morning, the clouds are gathering and thunder is in the distance. However we do need the rain.

It is also the last week of Ramadan. In London on 21st the fasting times were 02.40 - 21.25. That is a long day. However these times don't coincide with sunrise and sunset, as these are 04.43 and 21.20, which is 16 hr 38 min of daylight [time&date]  . So I wonder if the fasting times in the UK are adapted to start and finish early.

In the Arctic Circle countries the sun never sets at this time of year. Interesting article on Muslims in northern Finland where fasting lasts 23 hours and 5 mins, as the sun only sets for 55 mins - see The Independent. Some Muslims chose to stick to these times, others follow a Middle East timetable.

Incidentally Ramadan 2016 was the longest days of fasting in 33 years, see BBC.
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See my 2016 blog with info on the summer solstice.

Winter solstice 2016 & sunrises

The winter solstice is on 21 Dec. This is the shortest day and longest night of the year.

The winter solstice is also called 'mid winter'. In meteorology terms in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is the entire period of December through to February. Confusingly though the solstice is the astronomical start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

On 21 Dec the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. The sun's path has reached its southernmost position.

So 21 Dec 2016 is known as midwinter as well as the start of winter!

21 Dec was cloudy in London and the sunrise was not visible. However there had been some nice sunrises a few days before -

08.08 am

07.50 am

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Summer solstice and full moon

June 20th was the summer solstice, at 23.34 BST. It's the longest day of the year with about 17 hours of daylight. This year the solstice coincides with a full moon. This moon is also known as a strawberry moon as it is the start of the strawberry season. The 2 events coincide once every 50 years, the last one was 1967.

Many people think the solstice signifies the start of summer.

The name solstice comes from the Latin solstitium meaning “sun stands still”. It happens because the sun stops heading north at the Tropic of Cancer and then returns back southwards.In the northern hemisphere this means the days begin to get shorter.

Many pagans congregate at Stonehenge for the solstice. "Crowds who gathered at Stonehenge at dawn to mark the summer solstice were down by about half this year, English Heritage said.
It said about 12,000 people attended the neolithic site in Wiltshire to watch the sun rise at 04:52 BST" [21 June]. [BBC]

MIDSUMMER

Midsummer, also known as St John's Day, is the period of time centred upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the Northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 19 and June 25 and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different cultures.
Although it is a pagan festival, the Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr St John the Baptist, and the observance of St John's Day begins the evening before, known as St John's Eve. (from Wikipedia)