chessfou Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Among all the questions and replies about climate, I have not seen any mention of length of days.For us, after our first full winter here, this has been the biggest (and unexpected, although easily predictable) difference from where we were in the UK (ca. 1000km N of here).At the winter solstice ("shortest day"), we got more than an hour of extra daylight. Now, as we move out of winter, the days are still about 20 minutes longer here.Even if we didn't get as many sunny days in winter (as we do), all those extra hours of daylight make a real dent in the grayness of winter.We'll have to give a bit of that back during the summer (at the summer solstice, we will have about 45 mins less daylight here) but there's plenty to spare then (sunrise 06.05 to sunset 21.38 is quite sufficient). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodie Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 is this site any good www.le-guide/comclimate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 That link doesn't work, Rodie.Surely the length of the day is nothing to do with climate, it is the rotation and orbit of the earth which determine the hours of daylight - or am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessfou Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Of course it (length of day) doesn't affect the climate but it does affect people's perception of it, especially during winter, hence my point.An extra hour of daylight makes a huge difference for us - and we've never suffered from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). For someone prone to SAD it could even be a matter of life or death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Sorry, still don't get it. The days and the nights are the same lengths as always, no? Or are you just saying that days are shorter in the winter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessfou Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Hopefully this will make it clear.Length of "day" (in hours and minutes between sunrise and sunset) in UK (1000km N) compared with here: UK here difference in hours of daylightmid winter 07.43 08.51 01.08 extratoday 10.56 11.16 00.20 extraaverage difference in length of a winter (Oct-Mar) "day" - ca. 40 minutes longer here.The difference between here and the North of England would be correspondingly greater still.If you want to make your own comparisons, the following site has daily data (for the past year) for a huge number of places in France and UK (among others):http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=FranceSelect your location (e.g. Ajaccio) and you will find a section about halfway down the page titled "History & Almanac" which allows you to select any date and the data for each day includes all sort of stuff, including sunrise and sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Yes, the nearer you get to the equator the closer the day and night are to 12 hours all year.Are you saying that where you are now the winter days are longer and the summer days are shorter than in the UK?What does your table mean? Are those sunrise/set times? Hours of daylight? What is the 'extra'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqui Too Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I've been following this and I 'got' it in the first post!![Www][quote user="Dick Smith"]Are you saying that where you are now the winter days are longer and the summer days are shorter than in the UK?Yes he isWhat does your table mean? Are those sunrise/set times? Hours of daylight? What is the 'extra'?Hours of daylight and the 'extra' is the dufference between the two.[/quote]Sorry Dick you must be having a bad day[;-)]Chipie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Well I'm afraid I don't. Could someone explain, in plain English, what the point is, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Sorry, but that is all just confusing.If I read you two correctly the point is that days in the winter are slightly longer than in more northerly regions, yes? That means, of course, that days in the summer are shorter, unless you have unleashed some previously unknown feature of astrophysics.So in a day which has, potentially, twenty minutes more sunshine, you feel better than in the more northern regions where the 'day' is shorter?I think that may be true, but remember that the extra daylight time only amounts to 3% of the longest possible daylight period (12 hours) and no more than 5% in the temperate regions, so the the benefit would be small.Presumably in mid summer the 'day' is an hour shorter than in the north? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqui Too Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 [quote user="Dick Smith"]Well I'm afraid I don't. Could someone explain, in plain English, what the point is, please?[/quote]I think the point that Chessfou is trying to make is that in the deepth of winter in France you can get up to 40 mins more daylight per day compaired with some parts of England, which is good news for people who suffer from S A D, thats how I see it?I think the heading climate - length of days was a little missleading as it was primarily about length of day!Cheer up Dick the days are getting longer[:D]Chipieps it took me so long to write my post you had posted again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 OK. I find that turning the lights on helps a lot!In the early 70s I was in the north of England when the experiment in no-daylight-saving was tried out. That made a lot more difference, but I don't think anyone had invented SAD in those days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJSLIV Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 The earlier link should behttp://www.le-guide.com/climate.htmlNot that it seems to have much to do with the rest of the debate..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqui Too Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 [quote user="Dick Smith"]OK. I find that turning the lights on helps a lot![/quote]Funny you should say that I use a 200w bulb for 6 hours a day from 3.45pm - 9.45pm from mid Dec. to April but not for me, its for my horse!!! no he doesn't get sad, I just need to trick his brain into thinking spring is coming ( he needs to shed his wolly winter coat by the end of March so he looks good for the early shows) works a treat !Alas I can't say it works the same on me ! [blink]Chipiehummm that gives me a thought for a new thread 'Tricks of the Trade' ( not horses but any trade)!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I'm disappointed by the amount of grey sky this year compared with last. It is making me SAD. [:(] Jude says Mme Surblé the grocery store owner was complaining to her this morning that this winter was getting her down due to lack of sunshine. Mme S is about 60 and has lived here all her life so I expect what we are experiencing is not normal. If it goes on maybe I'll have to move to the Aveyron. Today was sunny though. So maybe having charged up today I can get through another week without slitting my wrists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Before we came here we had a holiday house in the Scottish Highlands. One of the (few) things against it was the short winterdays and long summer days. Too extreme. If you went for a winter walk you had to be home by 3.30pm. When we lived in Singapore it got dark every night all year round at 6.30pm. Where we are now is in between.In comparison with UK the biggest difference in the length of daylight hours is in midwinter and midsummer.Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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