Happy Summer Solstice, y'all!

#26

I knew I was gonna get some flak from that, but I see sunshine molecules everywhere. I shall now walk along the mighty Neuse River, which is full of water molecules, but I'll also see tree molecules and bird molecules and squirrel molecules - and we're all enjoying the sunshine molecules on the longest day of the year.

If it wasn't for molecules, things would get boring, quickly.

RTH10260 · #27

I wish you much fun in moving your molecules thru nature

RTH10260 · #28

Is the glass half full or half empty

Are days getting shorter once again

#29

Yeah, tragically, the days will be shorter again, right up until the winter solstice, on December 21st. But the effects of summer will be here until October, so that's nice.

#30

Rolodex · #31

Here in L.A (Lower Alabama), it's been summer since April. I felt it acutely this week when I was at a meeting and the a/c went out in the facility where 400 of us lucky souls were gathered. Hard to move that many people and a/v equipment, dais stuff, etc so there we sat in the oven. Surprised no one fell out. And no, we can't open windows because no one opens windows down here. Plus they're not the kind that opens.

I must be a bat because I'll be glad when it's dark (and not blazing hot) at 5.

#32

Up north, we did not talk about summer as a season since it tended to start somewhere in July and end by, um, July.

Tourist season, however, goes from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That is far more notable.

#33

It's all a matter of perspective, and I had mine changed recently. I spent two weeks in the Land of the Midnight Sun a few weeks ago. I never saw it dark. One thing that I learned in Longyearbyen, which is at 78 degrees Latitude, hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle, is that the long summer days without darkness are actually harder on the system than the long days with no sunlight. They go four and a half months with no sunlight, two and a half of that completely dark. They enjoy their summers, but it can also drive them nuts. Most of their windows are covered with aluminum foil to keep the light out. I could never live there. Very few people can, for many reasons.

I don't know why, but I've always been extremely conscious of the seasons and the length of the day, in particular. The first thing I thought of when I realized it was the first day of summer is the days will start getting shorter tomorrow.

Now, if we're talking weather, I wish I were back in the weather in Longyearbyen. One of the days it never went above 32 degrees F (0 C) with wind chills down to about 5 degrees F. I preferred that to this heat dome.

#34

Foggy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2024 8:02 am We're getting lots of light (photon molecules), and I shall swim at 11. All these 90° days with no rain is bringing my pool up to bathtub temperatures. An overnight rain will bring it down 5° or more. But we're having a little bit of drought, it seems.

Yeah, but the planet spins the other way in the Southern Hemisphere.

Yeah, down here the days are now getting longer, which means the bloody cat will be jumping on my head earlier and earlier.