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Hi all
Just wondering if anyone else noticed how early it got dark tonight?
Last night I was sat outside at 2115 and it was just starting to get dusk, tonight , however at 1955 it was about the same and by 2030 it was dark with the moon just visible and the stars showing brightly.
Just thought I would ask..
Yes this seems to be happening here in texas at least I have been noticing these things a lot lately
Hi Ammit,
Yes I did think that tonight too. Then I just thought maybe it is because we are nearly 2 months after the summer solstice, but yes I did notice it tonight particularly.
J
Thank you for your replies. I found it very noticeable...
WOW!!! this is tooooo much! Just tonight here in northern Canada, my wife and I went for a walk, and we both noticed that it seemed darker than usual and that it has come on VERY fast within the last month. I am careful to record and observe these things. And I will say that only one month ago, July 15th, the top of the sun was almost beyond the horizon a FULL hour later than tonight!! Meaning we lost an hours daylight in roughly a one month period??? I do not recall that magnitude of change in that short of a time frame before. I want to thank Ammit for starting this thread, as this is very amazing that I would notice this over here in Canada as well where I live, and on the same day no less. Incredible I say!
I believe the time of dusk changes by about 3 minutes a day, when it is moving it's fastest. It is like a sine wave, with a varying rate of change, the fastest change happening in the spring and the fall.
we've just moved to being past a full moon, which can throw a lot of light, for a 8 day period, the peak being on the 13th of august. so, the moon basically full for a week, then the dusk time changing at the same time as the moon being full and then waning...makes an impression that dusk is happening faster, sooner than normal.
This, because the moon light is variable, but in a one month period. Besides the 'curve' or 'speed of change' changing more rapidly as we get off the summer peak and move into fall time. The combination of the two (moon moving off it's peak and dusk/dawn rate of change increasing) may have given people the idea that it happened 'all of a sudden'.
Also, as humans tend to run their lives by clocks, we tend to note things when they hit our timing hot spots, like specific given hour end/beginning points. Note the times mentioned in this thread. Malls and stores in North America and the west in general, closing at 9pm, for example.
All that being said, I noticed it too, as I was coming home. The point at which I noted that the local drive in was playing..as I go by it..I have an open view to a valley to the west, and I usually catch the sun going down. thus, I'm aware of sundowns and timing, most days. Today it seemed like it got dark quite early.
I live 10 degrees north of the equator, so the difference between the shortest and longest day of the year is only one hour.
Divide that by 6 months, and you get 10 minutes variation per month.
Once you live further north than 55 degrees the variation has to be 6 hours or more, or 1 hour difference for each month.
So that sounds about right.
Hello Carmody, thank you for your input, and yes you are very correct in that those changes combined definately give off the impression that the overall change occurred rapidly. It's just that for some odd reason or another, tonight just "hit" me more than any other. And in my neck of the woods, I have always noticed the "hit" during the early part of September, and then throughout that month. Just somethin bout tonight though. And when I thought it was just me, then my wife says she notices it as well. Oh well just seems funny though how Ammet starts a thread on this and I read it as soon as I get back from my walk when I noticed it. Something else to point out here too, is that Tornado warnings are something we see handed out often to southern parts of north America. And NOT here. We have seen "micro bursts" the odd time....but just this afternoon while at work the Weather network issued a Tornado warning for my whole area here! The clouds were like something out of a movie! And then the news broadcaster on the radio issued a statement asking that employers allow their employees to go pick up their children at the daycare and head home for shelter in case. I watched through my window at my office and saw the clouds moving overhead very fast. We never did get a Tornado. Kind of eery though for here because Tornados are pretty much unheard of around here.Quote:
Posted by Carmody
yes it got dark 1 hour early, and my digital clocks are twenty minutes ahead of real time it started about three days ago.
if we check the moonrise-moon fall and sunrise-dusk time periods, we may also have reached a 'dark before moonrise' threshold. Along with the waning moon effect.
Not every year has the same combination.
For example, about the time of the peak of this full moon, I saw the strangest thing that made me stare and look back and forth in a big parking lot for a few minutes. I could swear I had never seen it before.
We had the Full Moon, and the Full Sun, up in the sky ...at the same time. So I stood in the parking lot and moved my mouth, pointing at each, turning and looking at each. WTF???
The moon was full and high, about 5 or more degrees up above the horizon..and the sun was a good 5 degrees above the horizon. Now, when the moon is full, this means it is exactly opposite the sun, period. That is how we achieve the effect of the moon being full, to our eyes. Yet the horizon HAS to be no more than 180 degrees, so HOW could this happen?
Did anyone else note this seemingly freak circumstance and happenstance, at this past full moon, near sundown?
I surmised it was just an odd Combination, this particular August, this particular year. thus when it goes off the peak of the full moon, and the moon rise fall times change with relation to sunrise-and dusk, then we get this seeming fast occurring dusk a bit later.
And this is what happened.
Carmody,
it is to do with the moon's declination, which varies. The exact 180 degree opposition would be an eclipse.
Anyway, I don't know how to put it into words, so here is a link, which might or might not clear it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_standstill
That is what I figured. then this played out in the interpretation a few days later... of the dusk seeming to come too soon. It took me those few minutes to remember the shift due to the time of year, etc. I remembered that I was not on the equator or exactly in alignment with the sun, regarding the rotation at my location, so the arc was not directly above -but off to the side.Quote:
Posted by ulli
Nevertheless, it felt very bizarre, a very odd occurrence.
Yes it was Darker, since most people learned that Charles and Camilla visited areas of London to see for themselves the impact of the recent rioting.
http://news.sky.com/home/article/16051601