[Speed Gibson,
Saturday January 7, 2006 at 9:07am]
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The sun is back! Yes, the clouds kept us fairly warm however many days it's been. Yes, clear skies mean colder nights. But it is still glorious to see that lucky old sun roll around heaven today.
I dug out an old spreadsheet where I calculated the total solar energy we receive each day, based on the date and the latitude (45° N here). Using the summer solstice as 100%, we hit bottom at the winter solstice Dec 21 at just 21.9%. The sun is much lower at noon (meaning less hot) and the hours of daylight much less.
Here at January 7, we're now up to 23.8%, and we're gaining about 0.2% a day.
I dug out an old spreadsheet where I calculated the total solar energy we receive each day, based on the date and the latitude (45° N here). Using the summer solstice as 100%, we hit bottom at the winter solstice Dec 21 at just 21.9%. The sun is much lower at noon (meaning less hot) and the hours of daylight much less.
Here at January 7, we're now up to 23.8%, and we're gaining about 0.2% a day.