June 20, 2013
My Melissa Cronin
The Huffington Post
The longest day of 2013 (click here) is finally here -- but this year, it comes with a twist.
While the solstice in the northern hemisphere traditionally falls on June 21 -- and this year it will occur on that date at 1:04 a.m. EDT -- it will begin on Thursday, June 20, for parts of the western U.S., according to the website of the Clark Planetarium. The time of the solstice depends upon your position on Earth and, as a consequence, where you are in relation to the sun....
10:45 GMT (5:45 AM)
The Weather Channel Current Temperature Map
I think of the Summer Solstice as an inflection point. It is the highest degree of solar rays to reach the northern hemisphere.
The Summer Solstice is the point where 'direct' solar rays start to move to the southern hemisphere again.
So, what does that mean exactly? Right? So what. Maybe a person needs better sun screen today.
The sun heats the planet. Sol heats Earth, but, it is not a passive heating. It happens due to the nature of Earth. There is no human life on Venus or Mars, but, only Earth. So it is safe for anyone to recognize the fact there is a unique quality about Earth that lends itself to life. That unique quality is Earth's ACTIVE INTERACTION with the solar rays.
Now if you accept that reality. The reality that Earth actively interacts with the sun's solar rays, then today is significant.
Do you know where I currently live the sky starts to go from black to blue long before the sun comes up and when the sun sets about 9:30 PM, the sky doesn't move from blue to black for another hour and 45 minutes. Lots of light with a very short nighttime. The farmers like it. It makes their growing season different than those folks in Kansas. DAYLIGHT HOURS. See, the closer one measures 'daylight hours' to the North Pole, the land of the midnight sun, the more interesting it gets.
But, that isn't really my point.
The point is Earth has unique qualities. Those qualities are it's ability to generate 'infrared' radiation of it's surface and (THIS IS THE BIG ONE) that infrared radiation is trapped by Greenhouse Gases (the thin blue line).
The Thin Blue Line (click here) The thin line of Earth's atmosphere and the setting sun are featured in this image photographed by the crew of the International Space Station while space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-129 mission was docked with the station.
The Thin Blue Line is the ATMOSPHERE of Earth. The gaseous layer of Earth, the way I think about it. Earth's atmosphere is the ONE unique character that ALLOWS life to exist.
So, today the northern hemisphere has been 'heated' as much as it is going to for THIS YEAR in the northern traverse of the sun's direct solar rays. But, that is not the end of the heating of the northern hemisphere this year. Now, the direct solar rays start to 'REHEAT' the same land and water it has already heated once this year.
This was the highest temperatures from yesterday. The highest temperatures didn't happen at noon time sun.
June 21, 2013
0100 GMT (8:00 PM EST)
The Weather Channel Actual Highs Map
The reason the highest temperatures don't happen at noontime is because EARTH ITSELF emits infrared radiation that heats the atmosphere and that 'latency' doesn't end at noontime, it goes on the entire time Earth is exposed to sunshine. In my case, Earth continues to absorb sunshine and turn it into heat until 11:15 PM today.
So, one of the realities of THIS INFLECTION POINT in the traverse of direct solar rays across the face of Earth is the unrelenting heating and REHEATING of the northern hemisphere from here on. From here on the northern hemisphere will REHEAT. Those temperatures in the map above will go higher. Until the hurricanes kick in. Then the temperatures will fall as the ocean warms instead. The land will then REHEAT again at the end of the 'physics cycle' and the next hurricane will do the same thing.
What is oddly interesting to me is the degree tornadoes will continue to spawn over land because the water vapor to support hurricanes has moved to higher elevations / altitudes.
"Ya all have a better day now."
Oh, yeah. "Drill, babe, drill."
1130:18 z (6:30:18 AM EST0
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
There are no signs of hurricane turbulence, but, there is a connection to equatorial water vapor into the center of the USA. If anyone has been paying attention to this blog, that statement will make sense. Basically, high potential for tornadoes.
