Monday, December 21, 2009

Weird light, cold nights

All the weekend thru, we had temperatures of about 3° F/-16° C at night. During the day, they did not rise much, so we had about 19° F. This is unusual. I remember warm Xmas eves in the seventies, 63° F on Dec 24th, 1978.
Last night, it wasn't quite so cold, just 28, but the sky was so bright. Looks weird, doesn't it? This picture was taken at 4:38 in the morning, long before dawn. We don't have more than 3" snow, but a Siberian feeling.
J hates it, I can cope with it. Baltic blood? In my parents' old home, most of the winter temps stayed on the above level, and schools stayed closed when it was below -- 22° F/--30° C.
I'm convinced that a warm cap is the clue. In Germany, most people take pride in going out without a cap. I don't know the offspring of this peculiar custom. I brainwashed my husband into wearing a cap. His rate of sinusitis has decreased from 3 times a year on less than once since then.
Solstice! From tomorrow, the light is coming back and days start getting longer!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that winter solstice--the daylight hours start getting longer the next day.
We had lots os snow and thought it was cold her--until I read your temperatures!

Chris Gray said...

..it's minus 3 here...

...and we woke up to 20cms of snow this morning!


I love it when we reach the solstice too....


...then begins the countdown to summer holidays!!

x Chris

patstudio said...

yes for the light! this early morning the sun is a bright white orb casting an ice-y shimmer to the world. it is cold. we have had extra cold temps too; last week as low as 6 degrees. brrrrr. i am a bear; i want to hybernate.

Diane Cransac said...

It has been quite cold here also, the wind is just cutting. I have a terrible habit of going without a hat as I think I look awful in them. I think it's a habit I need to change though. D fixes it by wrapping my scarf round and round my head LOL!

jude said...

hooray for hats and more sunshine!

Rayna said...

I love this date because it means spring is coming!

ArtSparker said...

I admire the ground covered in this brief post...cultural, meteorological and personal.

Deborah said...

I totally agree with you about the warm hat. Do you think that's why people used to sleep in caps?

Eva said...

Deborah, I guess they had to before the houses had central heating.