Earliest Sunset

Today's sunset in Hood River, at 4:21 pm, is the earliest sunset of the year. Actually, the sun sets at 4:21 each day from now until Dec 14, at which time it starts to set later and later.  Hooray!

This isn't quite the shortest day of the year, which occurs on the Winter Solstice (Dec 21, 2008).

And it certainly isn't the latest sunrise, which is 7:46 am from Dec 28 to Jan 8, at which point the sun starts rising earlier and earlier. Hooray again!

Sunrise and sunset times are dependent on latitude, so these times only apply to locations at Hood River's latitude of 45.7 North. For other locations, check this out.

Ahhh ... Summer ...

The first full day of summer. Overcast, little to no wind, 75 to 80 degrees. Very pleasant; a great day to be outside. Our cat Tucker totally agrees.

Full Moon On The Rise

Check out the full moon rising the next couple of evenings at sunset (around 9 pm). Due to seasonal alignments, the "solstice moon" is one of the more spectacular moonrises of the year. Local forecasts are for clear skies around sunset, so we might luck out on this one...

Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice! From here on, the daylight hours get longer, slowly but surely, thanks to the axial tilt of our home planet. And not a moment too soon.

2 Days of Summer

We get summer-like weather today and tomorrow, and then... summer actually begins Thursday June 21 at 11:06 am. Longest day of the year! Yeehaw...

Unfortunately, the weather then takes a un-summer-like downturn on Thursday thru the weekend (who'd have guessed?). For the most part, weekend downturns have been the rule this Spring (see previous posts). But still.... it's all good... it's all weather.

Lots of great local events happening this summer; check 'em out at the Hood River Chamber site.