Category: Seasons

It is 6:03 p.m., EST, Dec. 21, which means winter has started for 2014.

Look at the bright side. The days are going to start getting longer.

Winter 2014 Starts so expect snow

It’s 2  a.m., Sunday Nov. 2. Daylight saving time is over and Standard time has begun.

Hopefully, you remembered to turn your clocks back an hour.

Standard Time Starts Now

Standard time starts and daylight saving  ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. This is the time of the year when clocks are turned back one hour.

Additionally, everyone is encouraged to check and/or change the batteries on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

Standard Time Starts 2 a.m.

The 2014 autumnal equinox is right now 10:29 p.m. EDT, Sept. 22, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac as the sun crosses the celestial equator. Fall has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and the days are now shorter than the nights and will continue to be so until the spring equinox.

The celestial equator is a circle concentric with the actual equator that extends infinitely to space. As the Earth has a 23 degree tilt the the northern half tilts towards the Sun during half its orbit and away the other half. The equinoxes occur when tilt switches.

Autumn 2014 Starts Now

Summer 2014 starts at 6:51 a.m. EDT, June 21, which is right now if our internet service provider’s clock is accurate.

This means that tilt of Earth’s semi-axis is most inclined to the sun in the Northern Hemisphere which is a solstice.

The axis will in a few moments slowly start reversing itself until it is the Southern Hemisphere that is most inclined to the sun.

The would be the start of our winter (and Australia’s summer).

Today is the longest day of the year. Don’t expect the real heat to start happening for several more weeks, however. It takes a while for the ground to absorb all that solar energy and it is the ground that really makes things hot.

In Europe summer was traditionally considered to start May 1 which is why today is often referred to as “Midsummer.”

This reckoning is still used in Ireland.

Some music to start the season:

Summer 2014 Starts Now

Spring 2014 Starts Now — It is 12:57 EDT, March 20, which means the vernal equinox is now which means Spring has started.

The word equinox is Latin words for “equal night.” Days and nights are approximately equal everywhere and the Sun rises and sets due east and west, explains The Old Farmers Almanac. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun.

 

Spring 2014 Starts Now

It’s time to spring forward.

At 2 a.m., tomorrow, March 9, Daylight Saving Time starts so move the timepieces ahead an hour if they are not already programmed to do so.

It ends Nov. 2.

Of course, as spring does not start until 12:57 p.m., March 20, the nights remain longer than days regardless of what government dictates.

Visit BillLawrenceDittos.com for Daylight Saving Time Cometh

Visit BillLawrenceOnline.com for Daylight Saving Time Cometh

 

 

Daylight saving time, which began in March, will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov.  3. In other words, tomorrow.

This is the time of the year when clocks are turned back one hour at 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. This marks the resumption of Eastern Standard Time until March 2014. The recommendation is to turn clocks back prior to going to bed tonight

Additionally, it is recommended that batteries on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors be changed, or at least checked, at this time.

 

Eastern Standard Time 2013