As the Days Decrease

11 November 2012
3:10 PM

Sunrise at	9:15 AM	in direction	133°	Southeast
Sunset at	3:54 PM	in direction	227°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 39 minutes (6 minutes, 36 seconds shorter than yesterday)

South by Southwest from our deck - 3:01 AKST

When I started this blog in the New Year of 2012, many of the photos taken were similar to this.  But, even if I were to take a photo 36 days after solstice, at precisely the same time, it would only be similar. The sun does not rise and set symmetrically with respect to winter and summer solstice.  You may have noticed that in your latitude. So when we have 6 hours, 39 minutes, and 14 seconds of daylight in late January, the sun won't be at this exact point at 3:01 PM.

Yes, the photo was taken at 3:01 PM today.  There are just under 36 days until winter solstice.  The number of minutes lost per day will hold steady for most of November, finally dropping off to a loss of 5 minutes around the first of December.  From there, the number of minutes lost decreases steadily to solstice where it remains fairly consistent for about three days.

I may miss that drama due to possible travel in that time frame to Washington State for my husband's health.