昨日はwinter solstice(冬至)だったらしい。First day of Winterとも言う。最近、よく夫が言ってたのはこのことだったのか、と、今になって思う。実際、昨日の朝の犬たちとの散歩のときにも言っていたっけ。仕事へ行く前に犬たちを庭へ出すのだが、もう暗くて一緒には庭へ出ていない、という話をしたときのことだ。「当然だよ。でも今日が一番長くてこの先は少しずつ短くなるから」とかなんとか。何気なく聞いてただけで腹(脳)にはいってなかった。「あっそうなんだ=」とか言いながら。
December 22nd is the Winter Solstice which marks the beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemsiphere. The Winter Solstice took place at 12:30 a.m. EST today. What is actually taking place is that the Earth as it turns on its axis as it circles the sun, is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees relative to its orbit. Whatever the season, the axis points the same way, with Polaris, the North Star, hovering over the North Pole.
So December 22 will experience the shortest amount of daylight hours and the longest night. In the U.S. for example, Chicago in the midwest, will get just 9.1 hours of daylight tomorrow, while in the south and far west, Atlanta and Los Angeles will get 9.9 hours (they're closer to the equator). Everything north of the Arctic Circle will experience 24 hours of darkness.
Going forward, the days will gradually lengthen as the sun climbs higher in the sky over the next six months. Despite the lengthening of sunlight though, the temperature will continue to drop for the next couple of months. Happy Winter Solstice and the official first day of Winter!