We got 9h 32mins of undisturbed sunshine here today (12/24) so should have been just a wee bit less yesterday.

...that was interesting.... from Civil Twilight begins to ends, I got about 9 hours.... as a comparison I note you got about 11 Virginia...

...not being an early riser, there wouldn't be too much left in the day by the time I'm up and ready, to be quite honest with you....

...just as well I'm not a Druid....

I use Weather Underground for my weather reports. We have weather station thing (My DH's stuff) in our yard. This website reports the daily hours of sunlight year round. Yesterday, we had 9h 41 minutes of sunshine.

Lynn

Our latitude here is a few minutes north of San Fransisco, about the same as Concord CA (wherever that may be..).

We had a day length of 8 hours and 56 minutes in Hidden Springs, Idaho, on December 23. Diane

6 hours of sunlight today but luckily the sun did shine most of those few hours.

It's funny how the solstice is a psychological turning point. I think, oh, we're past the solstice... more daylight hours ahead!, even though winter really isn't here yet, in terms of temperatures. Generally, our coldest months are January and February, so there's that hurdle to surpass in terms of keeping plants from freezing.

I'm not much of a zone pusher, so have few plants that will actually freeze to death if left out in the cold, but I like to have some greenery around, so I do tend to protect a few things from dying back if I can. I don't have any roses needing protection from our usual winter temps; when we do get freezes, they rarely last long.

The summer solstice is less of a milestone for me, since even I can't deceive myself that summer's almost over when the heat is still revving up in June.

Nik, it's odd to look at the latitudes and realize we're close to even with Tripoli and Tijuana... oh, and Isfahan! I'm not familiar with Concord, CA either...

Marlorena, I'm not such an early riser myself, though I do tend to get up earlier than I'd like. I occasionally do get up, look at the clock and think, "well, there's no point in trying to get much done today"... Not being an over-achiever, that sentiment doesn't worry me much...

Lynn, it's nice to have your own station so you can get really, really local reports. I use WU also, but I generally look at the closest stations, and kinda guesstimate our weather from that. Our yard temps tend to be pretty consistently a degree or two warmer than the closest station. Topography matters!

Thanks for your responses,

Virginia

Mine came out 9 hrs. and 15 min. give or take a couple mins. Always felt the winter would feel as bad if you could keep the light.

Nik,

Our hours of sunlight is very similar. My latitude line is the same as Kythira. Now, if you could send the Mediterranean Sea to me I would be most appreciative :)

Lynn

Kythira is in the south of Greece. Nice little island. People are still swimming in the sea as of today. Temps were about 67F at noon today with no wind and the sea in the bay still. Feels like we're in Aus or something... Christmas on the beach...Got a bit of a headache from sitting under the sun for too long. The forsythia started blooming for Pete's sake. It usually does not bloom until late Feb. I know this isn't going to end well...

Kythira

1st light - last light on Dec 22 was 15 hrs 50 mins, sunlight was 14 hrs 50 mins. My Easter( Michaelmas) daisies have buds on and one ( September Rubin) is already in flower. I checked yesterday and I think my lilac 'Primrose' is going to flower in Autumn again this year. That will make 3 years in a row it has flowered twice in the year. Mid to high 30Cs expected here today and a strong, hot northerly is already blowing, so fire bans are in place.

Jane, I was surprised that you didn't even get 8.5 hours; I sometimes tend to think more in terms of gardening zones rather than actual geography. I am glad there are some other late-rising gardeners around.

Diane, you had more daylight than I was expecting... I do tend to think of ID as being up by the Canadian border... which it is, of course, but I guess most of the state is closer to Nevada and Utah. And your GW handle does say SW Idaho (rather than almost Canada).

mariannese, I'm glad you got some sunshine with your daylight; I'm sure that's welcome... to you and any plants that are not dormant. I had a few glimpses of sunshine today, but they were fleeting; luckily, it's quite warm here this week with highs in the upper 70's for the upcoming week.

Patty, I agree that winter cold must be harder to take when it's also dark. Especially if it's dark when you go to work and dark when you go home again.

Lynn, if the Mediterranean won't come to you, maybe you should go to it! At least you could read some armchair travel or fiction books set there if you can't swing an actual vacation.

Thanks,

Virginia

Concord, CA is in the East San Francisco Bay Area - about an hour NE of SF by car - beyond Berkeley and Oakland. We get about the same amount of daylight (no sun lately) as you do, Nik. However, we are FINALLY having what passes for Winter here, after 4 way too warm Winters, so I will take the chilly (don't misunderstand - it has not gotten down to freezing at night yet) and rainy (Yay! - 6 inches so far in December) weather.

Jackie

Melodye, thanks for representing the Southern Hemisphere... only half of Atlas's burden, so that's not too bad.

Mid-to-upper 30's is pretty hot. I hope you are staying cool and well-hydrated, and that the fire alert remains an alert. Since you get more summer solstice daylight than we did here, I'm guessing you're closer to the equator than we are, though I don't know if there's a strict correlation between daylight hours and latitude. I would think so, but so often, I get tripped up by variables I hadn't thought of... Without checking, I think Newcastle is about the same distance from the equator as Charleston, only going the other direction...

Jackie, I'm glad you're getting some much-needed rain. It's been damp and overcast here, but has warmed up recently after a few brushes with temps in the mid-30's. No freezes yet, but it looks like we'll have cooler weather starting New Year's Day.

Thanks,

Virginia

Thank you for the link, Nik. My cousin and her family resided in Greece for 3 years and they absolutely loved the country and its people!

Virginia, my DH is in the workaholic phase of his career. It seems as of late, we can only squeak out about 5- 10 days for travel....unfortunately it isn't enough for a trip to that part of the world.

Jackie, 6", that is significant!! That is good news! We are in the path for rain showers today. Fingers crossed....

Lynn

9 hours 12 minutes. McCloud CA Hey Nik, my other house is in Concord, CA. But I grow the roses (most of them) up here, more water, more land, fewer people, a good combination for me. We got a lot of snow over the past few days. Yay!

Hey, are we going twilight or sunrise to sunset? Twilight to Twilight is 10 hours and 15 minutes....didn't feel that long! Always liked the "twilight Zone".

Clear and cold in L.A. today. "Cold" means a high of 61 degrees - positively arctic. People are wearing down jackets, scarves, and gloves. We had three hours of rain over the weekend, and we may have showers tonight and tomorrow.

However - my ever-reliable HTs (Gold Medal and Granada) are still blooming. I've had a few Sexy Rexys this week as well. The Austins and teas appear to be ready for a rest. Lots of oranges on the tree, sweet and juicy, but the lemons need a few more weeks.

All told, I'd rather be in Australia! Never too hot for me ...

Just checked 1st light-last light=10hrs 2mins! :-) My roses should grow more if the temp stays warm. :-) Had too much cappuccino this afternoon, can't sleep now.

About 8 hours here; sorry I can't give an exact figure. Our official day length is probably somewhat longer, but in the hills the sun rises later and sets earlier.

Latitude is certainly not the only factor in climate. Our zone 8 (zone 9 temperatures the last few years) area is on the same latitude as Bangor, Maine.

Ho Sylvia! Even here were we are pretty wimpy we don't wear gloves and things with highs in the 60s...

Lynn, if you can't actually travel, reading is the next best thing. I'm an armchair traveler, myself.

Congratulations, Anne, on the snow. Welcome to the Twilight Zone...

Sylvia, do women in L.A. wear fur coats with bathing suits, or is that just a Miami thing? At any rate, the chilliness will pass and since it's tied to rain, that's all to the good, but I'm sorry you aren't enjoying the cool weather.

summersrhythm, your warm-climate roses are probably enjoying whatever warmth the weather can dish out, but if you're in 6a, I'm guessing it won't be for too much longer. I just hope they don't end up with a lot of frozen new growth.

Melissa, topology can certainly skew things. We don't have hills here, but I guess they would block the sun as it rises and sets. Latitude is just one ingredient in the climate soup, but it does correlate tightly to the amount of daylight one gets. How strange to think of your being at the same latitude as Bangor.

Nik, i had the same reaction: down coats and gloves? But I guess if you live in L.A., you don't have too many opportunities to wear those things, and have to take advantage of whatever chilly weather comes around.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it,

Virginia

I just checked the official figures for daylight hours at the 59th parallel north. At this latitude the sun is visible for 18 hours, 30 minutes during the summer solstice and 6 hours, 11 minutes during the winter solstice. I got some comfort from remembering our white summer nights!

LA got snow!? I am in an ice hole here without any snow. :-) It's 35F right now, pretty chilly though. The rose buds never opened due to the hot and cold weather like a child's temper. Next week winter will be back with temp in the 20's. Do people in Miami wear fur coats with their bathing suits? :-) That's funny.

Summers, talk about ice holes. We have plenty of snow on the ground, too. I think our drought has ended this month. We usually have pretty decent winters, but not this year. It's 19.9 degrees right now, and not quite seven pm. Today's high was 27 and the low coming up is 11 degrees. About the same tomorrow. We have traded weather with Minnesota. I just read that NYC is warmer than LA, and Washington DC is about the same as Phoenix. Apparently there were record breaking warm temps for Christmas in the East. Phooey. Diane

My goodness, it's 19.9F over there, and low 11F tonight!! What do people wear over there in this cold temp? In zone 7 people may not have heavy winter gears in their closets. I hope everyone over there is Ok. It's so easy to get frostbite in that temp. Over here in this ice hole for temp under 20F , you'd see a lot of full length fur coats, fur hats on the streets, in the grocery stores. We are so used to the cold winters here, and ready for the sub zero weather. Stay warm, I hope warmer weather is coming to you. :-) That's Minnesota's weather you got there. :-)

Well, in Embarrass MN, it got to be 54 below--don't think we've ever gotten that cold. And no, we don't particularly bundle up. I do wear my 40 year old Husky boots made in Canada, but only to go out and feed the birds. Going to go check the temp and will report back. Thanks for your concern, summers. Stay warm. Diane

I'm back. It's 17.6 degrees, and they've bumped up our expected low to 13 degrees. These predictions are all over the place from hour to hour, but any tiny increase in temp is appreciated. Diane

We are spending Christmas holidays in the Black Forest, as we thought it would be the best chance to have snow for Christmas. Nope, it's over 60F, the cows have been let out the barn and we are outside hiking in T shirts. Could never have imagined the temperatures being like this at this time of year.

It is a little but colder back home in the north of Germany, but nothing frozen, just some rain. When we left some of the cherry trees were starting to open buds! Maybe I should order some more bareroots...