cross-quarter days

[nibot]

I've long thought it a little counterintuitive that seasons are said to begin and end on the equinoxes and solstices—after all, wouldn't you naïvely expect the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, to be the middle of summer (midsommar!) and not its beginning? (I would say that the seasons and the length of the days are 90 degrees out of phase... )

I learned on the radio today that the days midway between solstices and equinoxes are called cross-quarter days, and in many cultures do mark the boundaries of the seasons.

Today is November's cross-quarter day, marking the middle of astronomical autumn, and the first day of traditional winter.

Comments

[yami-mcmoots.livejournal.com]

The weather has a phase lag too, though.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

True... I notice that the maximum temperature here in Pasadena falls pretty close to the middle of (astronomical) summer in early August:

(http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayNORMS.asp?AirportCode=KBUR&SafeCityName=Pasadena&StateCode=CA&Units=none&IATA=BUR)

[ladytetsu.livejournal.com]

ah, yes, the season lag. Explanation:

Calendar seasons are about six weeks behind (or ahead, depending on your latitude) of astronomical seasons. The reason - the seasons are defined by the tilt of the earth, which affects incident sunlight. The solstices (when "the sun stands still") mark maximal tilt, either toward or away from the sun. The eqinoxes when the earth is vertical in relation to the sun and folks at the equator get a perfect twelve hour day. Now, the fun part is the atmosphere - it takes time to heat up and cool off - about six weeks. Which is why late August is dead hot and miserable in the Northern hemisphere, and February usually the part of winter that makes your teeth freeze. Even though, for both months, the period of strongest and weakest light has long since passed. It really is easier to base your calendar on what's happening with the sun on the equator than defining a different season based on varying changes for each latitude change. Otherwise Alaska (much like Cleveland) would have eight months of winter and about two weeks of real summer!

I'm an Imbolc baby - so of course that's my favorite cross quarter day. Also, oddly, I think the only one celebrated as a Sabbat.

I go by Sabbats, not calendar weather. I prefer the times with the most sunlight, so I like the period from Ostara to Mabon. (Spring to Autumn equinoxes.) But I also prefer the times when I know there's more light acomin', so in truth, I dig more Imbolc to Litha. (Feb 1 or 2 to Summer solstice.) So when you work it all out, Calendar Spring is my favorite season - more sunlight than dark, and that increasing.

Of course, I know you know the physics of all this, I've actually had to explain this to several folks previously, so I kinda went by rote. No insult intended ;-)

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

please explain: Imbolc, Sabbat, Ostara, Mabon, and Litha.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

See, for instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_year

[erinmack.livejournal.com]

went past a street called Tobin Lane today and thought of you

[chris-acheson.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't they be 45 degrees out of phase?

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Woops, you're right!

90 degrees would put us off by a whole season instead of just half a season.

[chris-acheson.livejournal.com]

Don't like winter? Start calling it spring!

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Winter 2.0!

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

All very interesting!!!!!!!

[jes5199.livejournal.com]

hey! neat! I've always wanted a word for this.

[aepfelx.livejournal.com]

i, for one, come from a culture where seasons are just defined by the gregorian calendar boundaries, so 12/01-02/28 is winter; 03/01-05/31 is spring, etc. we find yall's reliance on astronomical dates independent of the calendar...inconvenient.

[neveroddoreven.livejournal.com]

this disconnect has always bothered me --- thanks for the cross-quarter info! it makes so much sense.

Winter Solstice

[jqmold.livejournal.com]

Another counterintuitive phenomenon: You would think that the year's ealiest sunset and it's latest sunrise would both occur on the shortest day of the year. Not so. Look at an almanac. The earliest sunset is around Dcember 6th (an auspicious date otherwise)and the latest sunrise is around January 7th. It has to do with the equation of time. ie the difference between mean solar time and apparent solar time - or , in other words, the error of a sundial resulting from the Earth not orbitting the Sun at a uniform rate. We are whipping around the Sun much faster at perigee (December) than at apogee.
While you have the almanac out, look at the times of sunrise/sunset for dates near the equinox. You'll find that the day of 12 hour day & 12 hour night occurs several days before the spring equinox. The causes (there are two) are left as an exercise for the student.

Re: Winter Solstice

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Yes, but will you reveal the answer key before too long???!!!

fwiw

[reverend-kate.livejournal.com]

Up at the top of Lake, there is an antique phalanx of convenience, liquor, drug and stationery stores known as Webster's - it has been around for as long as there has been an Altadena.

In the hallway of their rear entrance, there is an image of the foothills where I live, covered in snow, taken in January. Which makes sense, given the charts you've posted. Though it was cold here this year, certainly there was no snow. People are quick to attribute human causes to global warming, and I'm not a meteorologist/geologist so I can't comment on the available data. But I wonder if it will ever snow again here during my lifetime. Maybe once?

Anyway, thinking of 10th August as one way to consider the beginning of Fall Proper just seems wrong. It is WAY too freakin hot, even into October, to feel in any way Autumnal. Intuitively, the equinoxes and solstices do seem like a silly place to start a season, but as it happens in So Cal, it works pretty well. It must be different Back East, when summer ends late August and indian summers are rare. Or are they?

Anyway,

a) we should hang out, and
b) is this the most responses you've ever had to a post?

Re: fwiw

[nibot.livejournal.com]

a) yes! there's a farmer's market, tomorrow, no? want to go? I don't know where it is. (Altadena?)

b) it's a lot for recent times, but i think I used to get way more. I think my peer group went through its livejournal phase, and most are not very active here anymore. )-: