THE LONGEST DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19765, 21 December 1935, Page 13

THE LONGEST DAY

FALLS ON MONDAY NEXT. NOT SUMMER’S MIDDLE. In spite of anything that any almanac may say to the oontrary, Monday next, December 23, i-s the longest day for this part of the world. The stm on that date reaohes its furthest southward point and enters the Zodiacal sign of Caprloorn. On Monday, therefore, occurs the summer solstice, and Monday, from the astronomical point of view, is undoubtedly the longest day. If it is argued that the longest day is that upon which the siun is above the horizon for the longest time, difficulties immediately begin to arise, for quite a number of days on either side of December 23 might with equal Justification claim the honour of being the longest day. On Monday next the sun rises in Wellington at 4.44 a.m. (Summer Time) and sets at 7.54 p.m. It is thus above the horizon for 15 hours and 10 minutes. But for .the last fortnight or so the sun has been rising earlier than 4.44 a.m., the very earliest hour at which it ever got out of'bed being 4.31 a.m. Although the sun is now already rising a little later each morning its hour of setting continues to get later and later until well on into January, the latest setting time being 7.58 on January 8. Hence for the next fortnight at least it will seem as If the days are still getting, longer, for it is the latter • part of the day which counts most with the majority of people.

'Summer After Longest Day/

The longest day by no means corresponds with the middle of summer, for meteorological records show that there is much more summer weather after the longest day than before it. If the New Zealand year Is divided into four seasons of three months each—a purely arbitrary arrangement —December, January and February . are classed as the summer mont as. On this reckoning more than two months of summer come after the longest day and less than a month before It." Seasons, howe/or, seldom follow man-made time-tables, although summer this year certainly did begin punctually at the beginning of December. It is possible, however, that it may last for another three months, and although it need not be mentioned too loudly, it is equally possible that It will ignomlnlously fizzle out long before the next two months are over. But if cabbage trees and their flowers cam be believed as well as various other portents, and if the spottiness of the sun is ruled out as an adverse faotor, the remainder of the summer is going to bo excellent —at least so say the optimists, and . several aged Maori prophets can he found who, pferhaps for a consideration, will back up their opinions. Anyway, whatever the weather does during the rest of the summer, the sun will continue to rise and set according-, to time-table, and It will be several weeks yet before there will bp any appreciable shortening in the length of the days.

Comparison With England l . It is interesting to note how New Zealand compares with England with regard to the longest and shortest days. Wellington, as stated above, has the sun above the horizon for 15 hours and 10 minutes on tile longest day. In-'London the sun on the longest day (which occurs in that hemisphere in Julie) rises at 3.45 a.m. and sets at 8-13 p.m., thus being above the horizon for 16 hours and 34 minutes, which is a distinct score over Wellington with its 15 hours 10 minutes. But Wellington more than gets its' own baok at the shortest day. On the shortest day in Wellington (June 22) the sun rises at 7.16 a.m. and sets at 4.28 p.m.,'thu£f giving 9 hours and 12 minutes of possible sunshine. But in London on the shoitest day (December 21) the sun does not rise until 8.5 a.m. and sets as early a 3 3.51 p.m., thus being above the horizon for only 7 hours and 46 minutes. It is this extra winter sunshine which makes winter here preferable to tho very short winter days in England. In summer time the sun Is so long above the horizon, especially in the early morning, that much of his effulgence is wasted. England gains over New Zealand in the faot that her Summer Time consists in an advance of the clocks for an hour, whereas New Zealand, after the initial experiment, has been content with half an hour.