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Point of pivot
Mar. 20th, 2004 06:49 amHappy (Northern Vernal, Southern Autumnal) Equinox!
From here on out, the South is darker than light, and the North is lighter than dark. I hereby resolve to make good use of the light!
Edit: The twelve months of the year are divided into four seasons, each therefore of roughly three months. The March equinox falls on or around March 21. The June solstice falls on or around June 21. If 21 March is the first day of Northern spring, then counting three months we arrive at 21 June. If 21 June is Northern midsummer, then counting back 6 weeks we arrive at around the start of May. Fruitless though it is to assign dates to seasons, still more fruitless is to assign mutually contradictory ones!
Luckily, we know that the seasons lag the motion of the earth around the sun, because it takes time for the biosphere to react to the changes in insolation. They also vary in length, by year and location. Northern spring is usually roughly underway by late March in the UK, and Northern summer usually peters out in late September in the UK. This of course will no longer be the case when the Atlantic Conveyor/Gulf Stream is disrupted by the effects of (significantly anthropogenic) climate change, and the UK climate becomes more like that of Newfoundland. As parts of Canada warm by some 5 deg C in the coming century (e.g. Edmonton only averaging -15 deg C in winter), the UK could cool by up to 10 deg C (e.g. London regularly reaching -10 deg C in winter).
Remember I made that resolution to enjoy the light? I will also enjoy the life, as these changes are likely to come within my lifetime.
From here on out, the South is darker than light, and the North is lighter than dark. I hereby resolve to make good use of the light!
Edit: The twelve months of the year are divided into four seasons, each therefore of roughly three months. The March equinox falls on or around March 21. The June solstice falls on or around June 21. If 21 March is the first day of Northern spring, then counting three months we arrive at 21 June. If 21 June is Northern midsummer, then counting back 6 weeks we arrive at around the start of May. Fruitless though it is to assign dates to seasons, still more fruitless is to assign mutually contradictory ones!
Luckily, we know that the seasons lag the motion of the earth around the sun, because it takes time for the biosphere to react to the changes in insolation. They also vary in length, by year and location. Northern spring is usually roughly underway by late March in the UK, and Northern summer usually peters out in late September in the UK. This of course will no longer be the case when the Atlantic Conveyor/Gulf Stream is disrupted by the effects of (significantly anthropogenic) climate change, and the UK climate becomes more like that of Newfoundland. As parts of Canada warm by some 5 deg C in the coming century (e.g. Edmonton only averaging -15 deg C in winter), the UK could cool by up to 10 deg C (e.g. London regularly reaching -10 deg C in winter).
Remember I made that resolution to enjoy the light? I will also enjoy the life, as these changes are likely to come within my lifetime.
