We have entered that time period on the calendar when the earliest sunsets of the year will occur. Here in Boston that time is an early 4:12 PM. The earth, as it makes its orbit around the sun is about to tilt furthest away from the sun in the northern hemisphere. However, the way the orbit is aligned (without getting too technical) is skewed some so that the earliest sunsets happen the weeks before the solstice and the latest sunrises occur the weeks after th solstice. Have no fear! December 21, is still the shortest day of the year, 9 hours 5 minutes of daylight in Boston.
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| You will also not that in the sky, how low the sun is on the horizon. As the winter solstice approached, the sun will only rise to 24 degrees above the horizon, casting long shadows even in the noon sun and its transit across the sky is very short compared to the summer sun which reaches 71 degrees above the horizon. The position of the sun on the image above is relative to angle in the sky above Boston. The winter sun also sets south of West in the winter at 237 degrees. |
The weekend weather looks to be great, but cooler and more December like. A few clouds this morning will give way to sunshine and no storms are seen in the short term forecast. A storm pattern out of Texas will shape our weather for late in the week ahead, with no major cold seen.
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