Happy New Year

  

 

Just past the  last full moon of 2023.  And today, 2 minutes, 36 seconds more daylight since the winter solstice on December 21.  

It's been a year of  tornadoes and hurricanes, erupting volcanoes, and wars.  The plague is still with us.  If you want to read more about the hottest, coldest,  rainiest and snowiest days in Chicago in 2023, here is an article from the Chicago Tribune.

No, we didn't get snow for Christmas, but there was some snow on Halloween!  

The new year will still  be influenced by the strong El Nino.  Will there be snow in January?

In November,  we will be voting in a general election. In the meantime, what will be happening in Ukraine, in Gaza, at the US Southern border?  

And still, we look up at the moon. In these  uncertain times,  the moon is still with us,  always changing phases. Waxing, full,  and waning.  And new again.

Wishing you all good things in the new year! 

Winter solstice 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counting the days to the winter solstice, and the holiday lights and decorations are festive in this dark time of year.   Sunset today, December 17,  is at 4:20 pm. 

This time last year, we were shoveling snow here. Friday, December 15,  it was a festive 51 degrees, and a neighbor was cutting the grass on the parkway!

 According to the old Celtic calendar, the solstice in December marks midwinter in the Northern Hemisphere, and the return of the light. This year, the solstice will occur on December 21, 9:27 CST. 

 Here's a post I wrote about it last year. 

 May you celebrate this time of year, whether summer at the South Pole, or winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Season's Greetings to all, this is the season of light.  

Amid wars and plagues, climate change and uncertainties, may this also be a season of hope, and peace.

El Niño update

 

 

 First week of Meteorological winter, and the holiday lights are welcome in the long nights and earliest sunsets of the year now. The December Solstice on December 21.  The high temperature was 51 on December 7  under cloudless blue sky and sun. It was the warmest December 7 in 42 years, since 52 degrees in 1981! 

The sunset was spectacular, too. It was a beautiful day---but it didn't feet like December.  Today, December 8, it was even warmer, almost 60 degrees!  Yes, unseasonably warm.  Enjoy it while it lasts, people say. And if you are from Chicago,  you may say, we'll be paying for this in January. 

Is this part of the El Niño effect?  Global warming?  Climate change?  

Yes, weather folks are confident  in a strong El Niño lasting through the spring. This means a milder winter here,  and not as much snow.

Global warming caused by human activity affects the ocean waters, too, which in turn affect the jet stream, and the polar vortex, and weather all over the world.

Global warming and climate change are not the same thing. Global warming is part of climate change. Due to warmer temperatures, hurricanes may be more extreme, and intensify more rapidly.

 Climate change is weather over time, a pattern of more severe storms, heat waves, droughts and flooding. 

These changes affect everyone, everywhere--from melting icebergs in Antarctica, to fall foliage in New England,  fewer bees, more mosquitos, changes in crops and timing of flowering cherry trees.  

We are all part of these changing climate patterns,  even as private jets fly into Dubai.