row2k Features
Sunrise, Sunset: Solstice 101 for Rowers
December 21, 2012
Ed Hewitt, row2k.com

photo by Erik Dresser

Solstice occurred a few days ago, marking the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the longest in the southern hemisphere. From here out, days get longer in the north and shorter in the south until the next solstice in June.

So sticking to the northern hemi for simplicity's sake, it would stand to reason that on the day after the solstice, the sun rises a little earlier, and sets a little later - which certainly matters to rowers given our general reliance on daylight to go about our pastime.

However, the unique way the Earth wobbles results in something quite different; as it goes, where I live, the sun will continue to rise later until a few days into January, almost stalling for a week starting on January 2. Here are the numbers from winter 2021 here:
  • December 16: 7:15am
  • December 17: 7:16am
  • December 18: 7:16am
  • December 19: 7:17am
  • December 20: 7:17am
  • December 21: 7:18am
  • December 22: 7:18am
  • December 23: 7:19am
  • December 24: 7:19am
  • December 25: 7:20am
  • December 26: 7:20am
  • December 27: 7:20am
  • December 28: 7:21am
  • December 29: 7:21am
  • December 30: 7:21am
  • December 31: 7:21am
  • January 1: 7:21am
  • January 2: 7:22am
  • January 3: 7:22am
  • January 4: 7:22am
  • January 5: 7:22am
  • January 6: 7:22am
  • January 7: 7:22am
  • January 8: 7:21am
and then the sun starts rising earlier each day.

Sunset behaves in the opposite fashion:
  • The earliest sunset was way back around December 8, at 4:32pm
  • Today (Solstice) it is already three minutes later, at 4:35pm
  • By January 8, when sunrise starts getting earlier as above, sunset will be at 4:49pm
That's the way the world wobbles - so you can sleep in for a couple more weeks.
SUPPORT ROW2K
If you enjoy and rely on row2k, we need your help to be able to keep doing all this. Though row2k sometimes looks like a big, outside-funded operation, it mainly runs on enthusiasm and grit. Help us keep it coming, thank you! Learn more.


Comments

Log in to comment
Russ Miller
01/11/2013  10:45:34 AM
You can print a handy, full year table of local sunrise/sunset or twilight times for US cites or any Latitude/Longitude pair from the US Naval Observatory website:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php 



Rowing Features
Rowing Headlines
ADVERTISEMENT
row2k media is not responsible for external ad content
Get our Newsletter!

Support row2k!

Tremendous thanks to our
row2k supporters!

Get Social with row2k!
Like row2k on Facebook Follow row2k on Twitter Follow row2k on Instagram Follow row2k on Youtube Connect with row2k on LinkedIn

Get the row2k app!

row2k rowing store!

Get our Newsletter!
Enter your email address to receive our weekly newsletter.

Support row2k!


Advertiser Index
Advertise on row2k