Chiberian Express

 

 

 

 The  lightness of the solstice,  the end of the solar year,  and the beginning of new things. 

For holiday travelers this year, there was a major winter storm and extreme cold, with subzero wind chills!  It was  a return to Chiberia---do you remember? 

Back in 1983--we didn't call it the polar vortex then. Chiberia didn't even have a name. It was Chicago, and wind chills of -40 and the Lake was steaming.

I first heard the term polar vortex in 2014, when it got so very cold, the switches froze on the Blue Line trains. The Lake was frozen.  Chicago was a frozen city. They called it Chiberia.

Now, it's 2022, how many storms of the century have we seen since then? This latest one is really extreme, even for Buffalo, where they are used to alot of snow.  Veteran meteorologists say they have never seen anything like this before.  

There were trucks stranded on the Ohio Turnpike, total white-out conditions.  There were power outages and burst pipes in subzero cold. Under such extremes, it really is like living on another planet. Metal acts differently. Frostbite can occur in a matter of minutes. 

If you were trying to shovel the snow in Chicago, it was a real challenge with the temperatures and the winds. Fortunately, there was not too much snow, and it was light and easy to shovel.Thank you! 

Today, December 29, there are already 2 minutes and 10 seconds more daylight than the winter solstice.
All the snow is almost gone in 50 degree temperatures. People are out in jackets and hoodies!  It's like Chiberia never happened, but it did. And we remember.

December Solstice

 

 

 

 

Solstice greetings to all. Love and light to you.  You may not celebrate the winter solstice, but you do.  The lights, the evergreens, the gifts and gatherings of the season.  These are older than the holidays we  celebrate, now. 

And tomorrow, December 21, the angle of the sun will appear to align along the Tropic of Capricorn. Astronomical summer begins in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere.  

Here, in the Northern Hemisphere, astronomical winter begins. The Old Celtic calendar called the solstice midwinter. As you can see, the dark time of the year here is between what we call Halloween and Ground Hog Day.  

 

Yes, the solstice marks the longest night. Some say the stones at Stonehenge are aligned in such a way that the sunset on the December solstice aligns with the most prominent stone. This is the death of the old year. Sunrise on the following  day marks the start of new beginnings.  

 

Even by our calendars today, January1 already has a few more minutes of daylight. So the wheel of the year turns again, time and again, beginning again. as it has long before you and me. 

Twilight time

"Heavenly shades of night are falling, it's twilight time, "  I think  of  that song by the Platters. So many shades of darkening blue in these short, short days of daylight as we approach  the winter solstice.

Twilight comes twice a day,  and in between day and night, the shades of  civil twilight, nautical twilight and astronomical twilight.  

Earth Sky explains these three stages of twilight---

During civil twilight, there’s enough light to see, but people turn on their lights to drive a car, and the streetlights are starting to come on. The brightest planets appear during civil twilight.

During nautical twilight, terrestrial objects are visible, but you need artificial lights to carry on outdoor activities.

Astronomical twilight is the darkest stage of twilight. For stargazers, the fainter stars and other sky objects become visible.

You can read the whole article here.  

In the darkening blues of the twilight sky, other colors stand out---the black branches, orange berries, dark greens of evergreens, the high-visibility colors worn by runners and dog walkers.  The almost buttery yellow  of the rising moon.  The lights of jets arriving and departing, and that reddish dot in the east---that's Mars!

There are many poetic descriptions for the blues of the twilight sky---evening blue, twilight blue, indigo blue, spread across the sky like shades of blue jeans, like the indigo sky of Japanese prints.  Like the stone, Lapis Lazuli,  a night sky full of stars.

And maybe, you will think of that beautiful song by the Platters.