Happy Solstice!

[sholio]

According to Weather Underground, we had 3 hours, 41 minutes of daylight today. (Sunrise: 10:58 a.m.; sunset: 2:40 p.m.) Since our house is located on the north side of a hill, we personally had 0 hours and 0 minutes of sunlight; the sun won't shine on us until mid-February, when it gets high enough to clear the hill.

This is your Alaska horror story for today. :D

(One of my VERY FAVORITE THINGS EVER was the description of Fairbanks, my sweet little frozen hell of a town, in a guidebook to the supposed 50 worst cities in the U.S. that came out a few years ago, in which we were described thusly: "Imagine the worst place you've ever been. Then take away the sun." I love Fairbanks, actually, but that has been cracking me up for years and will continue to do so, I'm sure, for years to come.)

But on the bright side, two days ago it was -20F, and now it's only 0F. (And felt quite pleasant when I walked the dogs today. Really.) We got some snow a few days ago and the trees are covered with snow; it's all very lovely.

Tomorrow is 13 seconds longer! *cheers*

Comments

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

\o/ 13 seconds! Always look on the brightside, heh.

I was in Tromsø one Christmas and.... Run. Run. Run. Back to 55°57'N! The weight of the darkness was palpable.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes, it is very dark. But getting lighter! \o/

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

I love Arctic circle summers; it's a balance of extremes.

The weirdest thing about Tromsø was that everyone seemed to use 40 watt bulbs. I would have sold my kidney for a 100 watt bulb

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

Woah. Hard to imagine darkness all the time.....

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Not ALL the time. Just 20 hours a day ...!

[furerin.livejournal.com]

Ha! I win! I only had 3h and 9min sunlight yesterday (9.55 to 13.04).

But we are nowhere near your low temperatures (hello gulf stream!). I'm just happy that we finally are constantly below freezing so the snow won't melt.

Also, every time someone makes comments about there not being any sun up north I always like to point out that around the north polar circle are the sunniest place on earth. Take that bloody southerners!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yes, you DO win! You have got the darkest solstice. Lucky you. XD

Also, every time someone makes comments about there not being any sun up north I always like to point out that around the north polar circle are the sunniest place on earth.

I know! They just don't know what they're missing with the all-night summers. :D Silly peoples. (Though sometimes I do wish we could average out our sun throughout the year; first there is not enough, and then WAY TOO MUCH.)

[leesa_perrie]

I'd forgotten you don't see the sun at your place for a few months in winter - can't you demolish the hill?!! *bg*

And yikes, it's cold! And here was me complaining about it being -6C (21.2F according to a metric converter) a couple nights ago!!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

My husband wants to build a very tall tower with a big reflective disc on top, to deflect sunlight into our yard. I have told him THIS IS HOW BAD SCI-FI CHANNEL MOVIES HAPPEN and NO, I DO NOT WANT TO BE MARRIED TO A MAD SCIENTIST. *g*

[leesa_perrie]

ROTFL!! Yeah, I can see all sorts of recipes for disaster with that!!

You sure he hasn't got an underground base somewhere? A white cat? A sun-powered laser?!!! *vbg*

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

No sun? None? *faints*

I love Texas. I really do, especially hearing something like that.

Really, no sunlight?

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Heh, the funny thing is, it kind of weirded me out living in Illinois where the days are pretty similar all year around. (Okay, yes, there is some change, but compared to what I was used to, the relative difference between winter and summer isn't all that much.) I guess it's just a matter of what you're used to! Which is not to say I won't be glad when the sun comes back ...

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

I grew up on the Gulf Coast. I've lived in New England half my life, and to this day the darkness of even bright midday in winter up here weirds me out. I visited my parents in November and was getting sunburned! It's a real adjustment. (I'm planning to put it in a story someday, actually, because that's what I do with my life.) Even here, I can't bear the thought of a house with no direct sunlight all day. ::shiver::

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah -- the difference in the light between winter and summer is really something! At this time of year in Alaska (my part of Alaska, anyhow) we don't really ever lose the pinkish "sunset" quality to the light -- even on the brightest, sunniest December day, the sun is still on the rim of the world and the sky looks like sunset/sunrise. (That's assuming you can actually see the sun. Property on south-facing hills is a lot more expensive than property on north-facing hills ... for obvious reasons! And that's why we're living in a hole ... because it was cheap. XD)

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

Dude, I have no idea how you do it. I find the "short" days here hard enough to deal with, and they're already an improvement on those I grew up with - it used to be dark, when I was in college, by 3.30pm. Amazingsauce to you!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Heh! 3:30 p.m. ... yeah, I can relate. :D

I'm lucky, though, that I don't have any seasonal effects from the short days -- it's psychologically a bit hard to deal with being cooped up inside and having it be dark all the time, but I don't have mood swings or depression related to the lack of light. I know a lot of people who do.

[sentientcitizen]

Woah. *boggles* I truely can't imagine that - I get sun-deprived enough in a regular old southern Ontario winter...!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably a matter of what you get used to -- I think I'd have trouble living somewhere the days were just the same all year around!

[bibliofilen.livejournal.com]

I once was in this little town in Norway which was in a valley. The big mining/electricity corporation why employed the whole town had built a lift up to the top of the hill/mountain so that their workers with families would be able to get sunlight. 7 out of 12 months the sun never reached the bottom of the valley.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

heeeee, that's an awesome story! :D I can so totally see something like that happening here.

[sheron]

'This is your Alaska horror story for today.'

*SHUDDER*

:)

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*pats* :D

[amalthia]

oh man, I barely saw any sun today too because it was overcast, I think a few rays of light came in through the window around noon and it was of course dark again by 3:30pm.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I know! The days are so short. *misses the sun*

[amalthia]

I'm not at the missing the sun stage yet, mostly because I can now watch movies starting around 4pm at my house. :) Um we watch on a projector and during the summer it's really impossible to block enough light out of living room and I haven't bought curtains yet...so for tv watching on the big screen darkness is nice...however I'm also taking vitamins every day...

Okay I think a bit more light would not hurt. :)

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

ahahahaha, US TOO! We have a projector and still no curtains (because we are lazy, and interior decorating isn't a priority for either one of us). Our house has a loft with no windows and that's where the projector is, but in the middle of summer we get a lot of glare from the downstairs windows and it's virtually impossible to watch TV except really late or on cloudy days. We do most of our TV watching in the winter. *g*

[amalthia]

rofl, I had no idea! hehe I think the reason I haven't pushed for curtains is that we have cats! Plus too lazy and neither of us can agree on what type of curtains...and it's just not high on my list of priorities. :) I suck at interior decorating. I specifically asked if we could keep the curtains when we bought the house, the problem is the curtains were only in the bedrooms not the living room. I love that they already have a thick black curtain lining and then an outside curtain to block out even more sun.

I think this upcoming summer I'll just watch tv in my computer room on my computer screen. We actually saved quite a few movies to watch during the winter. :)

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Nice and sunny here, could do with out the 40 degree days (Celsius but you knew that :D)