The Shortest Day Of The Year

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SNOWFALL WARNING: Greater Vancouver Issued at 3:25 PM PST SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER 2008

ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 10 CM ARE EXPECTED FOR MOST AREAS OF THE SOUTH COAST TONIGHT. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS. BANDS OF MOISTURE ROTATING ABOUT A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WEST OF VANCOUVER ISLAND WILL CONTINUE TO DEPOSIT SNOW TO THE SOUTH COAST. FURTHER SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 10 CM ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT. THE SNOW WILL TAPER TO A FEW FLURRIES OVERNIGHT OR MONDAY MORNING AS THE LOW DRIFTS TO THE SOUTH. MEANWHILE ARCTIC AIR WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH THROUGH THE COASTAL VALLEYS AND INLETS PRODUCING VERY STRONG NORTHEASTERLY WINDS GIVING WIND CHILL VALUES BELOW MINUS 20 TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. (Source:The Weather Network)

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I might have mentioned that I'm really getting tired of this constant darkness thing. It's dark when I get up in the morning, and dark by the time I leave work at night. In the past 8 days, the West Coast has been hit by 1 big snowfall, one bigger snowfall, and the blizzard that started last night, and has shown no sign of letting up almost a day later. It's been snowing for just about 24 hours straight now, and not the little pansy snowflakes, but the big, cotton ball flakes that ceaselessly bombard us poor saps on the ground, covering everything in a thick, white blanket of quiet. For most of today, visibility has been hovering around a few hundred yards or so - which is just the way I like it, on a quiet, sleepy Sunday.

I did though, venture out this morning to pick up some gifts that I'd had on hold at some places, and figured to get the drop on the last minute shoppers and find parking downtown. So at 9:45 AM, I wrapped up on scarves, leather, boots (wait - that sounds wrong), then strapped myself into the Millennium Falcon, and ventured outside to find... no one. We had had so much snow the last day, that other than a few knucklehead joggers (wearing shorts & T-Shirts, 'natch on the second coldest day in Vancouver's recorded history - The coldest day was 40 years ago in case you are wondering) that downtown was empty. A ghost town. I wondered why until I drove up Robson St., and it was nothing but a layer of ice, then snow, then more ice. But, I was born and raised in Northern Alberta, where nothing short of a typhoon would make us want to even think about purchasing an umbrella - and living on the west coast now - where people can't even drive in the rain (of which we get 200 days a year) it was a cakewalk.

So the those who still read this - I apologize to the both of you. A lot has been going on - the ironic thing is that there just isn't that much I want to talk about. In the meantime, I'm working on Christmas, finishing the job, and planning out the next treacherous couple of months. In between all that, I've been trying to negotiate the daily comings & goings / ins & outs of what my life is supposed to resemble - and juggle all that with a personal life. (That made sense in my mind, at least).

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At 12:04 p.m. UT (5:04 a.m. Mountain US Time) on December 21, the Sun will reach its most southerly declination. Over the past six months, for people in the northern hemisphere, every day the peak of the Sun’s arc across the daytime sky has been getting lower. Well, at 12:04 UT it reaches its lowest point, and now every day the Sun will be a bit higher in the sky at local noon. It will peak on June 21 at 05:45 UT, and be at the highest point it can get. Then the process reverses.

We call those points in time the solstices. Despite the fact that half the Earth has its seasons reversed, tonight is the Winter Solstice, and June’s is the Summer Solstice. If you live south of the Equator, sorry, but that’s what you get for living your lives standing on your head.

Anyway, the Winter Solstice has always been a time of celebration, because ancient people — more closely tied with the skies due to agriculture and no light pollution — knew that it meant the Sun was coming back up, and spring was coming. We celebrate it in modern times by going into debt. We’re far more sophisticated these days. (Source: Discover Magazine)

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And thank goodness for that.

So with a subtle nod to the blizzard happening just outside my window, click on the below for some good old Charlie Brown goodness - Vince Guaraldi - Linus & Lucy. Enjoy the season, and I'll be back for the annual "Holy Shit! It's Christmas!" before you can swing a frozen hockey stick in my general direction.