The Sun goes into reverse – it’s the Winter Solstice.

 Stuff and nonsense, Weather  No Responses »
Dec 212014
 
The Sun goes into reverse - it's the Winter Solstice.

At 22:03 tonight (December 21st 2014), the Sun will shine directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the southern-most position the Sun reaches before reversing its direction and heading back towards the Northern Hemisphere. This is called the Winter Solstice, or Summer Solstice if you’re reading this in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the day with the shortest sunlight hours, or longest if you’re in the south. Solstice comes from the Latin solstitium, meaning the Sun stands still.  In the Northern Hemisphere, astronomers and scientists use the December Solstice as the start of the winter [Read more]

Will 2014 have a White Christmas?

 Weather  No Responses »
Dec 052014
 
Will 2014 have a White Christmas?

Around this time of the year, newspapers are awash with weather related stories, after all, weather sells copies. The prospects of a White Christmas is always discussed in these reports, but how likely are we to have one this year? Firstly, we need to decide what the definition of a White Christmas actually is. To most people, it means that snow is falling on to a ground already covered with snow. Robins will be hopping from post to post looking for scraps of food on the surface, while squirrels scratch in the snow looking for previously buried food. Unfortunately for snow-lovers, [Read more]