Again, clearing the decks for the true purpose of this blog: skiing.
Summer of 2014 happened. The earth was farther from the sun, but the angle of its axis of rotation with respect to the sun caused longer days, shorter nights, and greater insolation--thus higher than average temperatures--here in the northern hemisphere. It was remarkable three months, indeed.
Speaking of seasonal changes in solar exposure, here is a great chart: it shows the azimuth and elevation of the sun above the horizon during its daily path across the sky.
The summer solstice is represented by the curve at top, in green, showing the sun rising at an azimuth of about 55 deg and 5:08, and setting at 305 deg at 20:25. At the other extreme is the winter solstice, where the sun traverses only 120 deg across the horizon and rises less than 30 deg up. Meanwhile, the equinox is in grey. At noon on the equinox, the sun is (90 - 42) deg above the horizon because we are at 42 deg above the equator.
Interestingly, note that the sun rises to its highest elevation about 45 min after noon in the spring and summer, and just after noon in the fall and winter (see green and purple dots, which are labeled with clock times).
Edward R Tufte would flipping love this graphic.
Other things happened too:
Mountain biking at Adams Farm, Walpole.
Hiking Speckled Mountain, in the Caribou Speckled Mountain Wilderness.
Rosie is known to be shy.
Kezar Lake at left, Pleasant Mtn a few miles beyond that.
Rosie and Sammy sharing a moment at camp Wallace...
One of Sammy's distant cousins at the Squam Lake Science Center.
Rosie, Greg, Kristina and I built a deer skeleton. Ah, so many memories.
A mountain lion, or puma, or catamount...
More mtn biking, at Hale Reservation.
Sunset at Ridge Hill Reservation.
