The Coming Darkness
I can’t believe it’s almost Labor Day. 2005 is rapidly drawing to a close.
It’s 6:00AM and still very dark outside. The days have been getting noticably shorter.
This time of year we start to lose about three minutes of light every day, 30 minutes every 10 days and 90 minutes each month.
Last night it rained. We needed the rain because we haven’t had much lately, but the combination of rain and less light reminded me of what lies ahead.
I don’t know where the summer went. It got off to such a late start and then suddenly here we are at the end of it. Fortunately, some of the Seattle area’s best weather comes in September and October. But this year the weather has been so out-of-whack I’m not sure what to expect. Maybe an early blizzard?
People complain about the rain but Seattle gets much less rainfall per year than most cities on the humid east coast. But it’s the darkness that I dislike more than anything.
By the time we reach the winter solstice, there will be barely eight hours of light per day and it won’t really be daylight so much as graylight. Most days will be cloudy and overcast, maybe drizzling. People will go to work in the dark and come home in the dark.
All the time they spend in their own homes will be under artificial light.
It feels like a cave existence to me. Something like a hibernation.
It’s coming and it’s coming fast.
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