Today is December 21, traditionally called the shortest day in the year. But that’s a misnomer. Technically, all days of the year are approximately the same length: 24 hours divided into sixty minutes segments that are further divided into sixty second segments.
What the shortest day of the year really means is that December 21 or thereabout (because sometimes it falls on the day before or the day after) is the day with the least amount of sun. Where I live that means we have about nine hours and six minutes of daylight out of twenty-four. That’s approximately a one third to a two third ratio.
So if you live in the Midwest like I do and are feeling depressed, there is good cause. It isn’t only because there is so little daylight, it’s also because the sun itself is usually blanketed by a dreary cloud cover that makes for the grayest days. In fact, it’s so gray throughout December and January that I actually look forward to the early nighttime so as not to see it.
Tomorrow the days start getting longer by about 45 seconds in the morning and another 45 at night. But it will still be at least a month or two before you can notice the difference. And six months to get to the longest day of the year.
Which is also misnamed.
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