Return of light

The light-famous Menashe home, Alki Beach

Up here in the Northwest, we're starved for light this time of year. No wonder we love our Christmas decorations. And just how dark is Seattle when you switch off that Menashe display?

Well, there's a gadget measuring solar radiation on a rooftop at the University of Washington.  According to Cliff Mass, it measures daily radiation in megajoules, an scientific amount of energy. The darkest days of the year have been in the past weeks, with megajoule readings of around 0.47.  To put that in perspective, in the summer we occasionally get above 30 megajoules!  No wonder we feel better then, even if a bit sleep deprived.

A weak winter sun and deep cloud deck bring these super dark days. Some of us remember the glorious experience of flying out of Seatac airport in the winter and finally bursting into blue sky after 20 minutes of gloom. It feels a bit like ascending into heaven. But good news now, because sunset finally bottomed out at 4:18, and from today on we start to gain more daylight. The winter solstice is tomorrow.

The Eternal Struggle

Jayne Barnett