Dwindling Daylight

Even though we've only been here a month tomorrow, we can already see the change in sunlight.  In confirmation of our observations, Weather Underground tells us the daylight hours are decreasing by over 5 minutes each day.  That means in 12 days, we'll have an hour less daylight!  I'm not sure we're ready for the darkness of winter months, especially after the last two days of beautiful sunny 70 degree weather. 

It's been interesting watching the daylight transition so far.  It seemed quite comparable to what we had been experiencing in Iowa and Illinois before we left, but is now quite different than anything we've seen before.  Daylight comes around 6-6:30, but we don't actually get sunlight in our apartment until around 10 because it doesn't get high enough to shine over the 3-story apartment building behind us.  (Just for reference, it used to shine in the apartment at 7 in the morning when we first arrived.)  Around noon, the sunlight still hits our apartment but at an angle that resembles what we normally think of as late afternoon; but it stays that way until around 5 in the evening when it sets, and then it's dark by 7.

We know that soon we'll be experiencing only 6 hours of daylight during December and January before the light starts returning.  And by then, we'll be awaiting the 22 hour days of June and July for the flip side of the sunlight-in-Sweden coin.  But for now, we're watching the sun disappear earlier and marveling at the difference a little latitude can make.  It's a "changes in latitude, changes in attitude" kind of thing, for all you Jimmy Buffet fans out there  =)