Tag: spring day

Two videos

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Opposite ends of the planet, but both mildly relevant to me.

First off, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder. All of United’s press conferences used to be recorded, edited and shared. But this season – for the first time ever – they’re live streamed.

See if you can notice when Wilder realises this in the video below.

Press conference errors aside though, it’s so good to see this guy smiling again after last seasons travails.

And then, this:

The weather in Cape Town continues to be pretty bloody awful, and – had it been a bit better – I was going down to the glamourous Access Park today to explore their sports shoe shops. Thankfully, because it was so nasty out, I didn’t. (But then, I suppose, if it had been a bit better, then the big thing wouldn’t have fallen down.)

As anyone familiar with this delightful place will surely attest, it’s all rather shabby. But you would have thought that they could have used some decent metalwork in the big sign at the gate, at least.

On the plus side, after this nastiness is done with (feels like -4, WTF?!?):

Check out the rest of the week:

21o isn’t going to break any records, but I’m loving those big yellow balls. (Careful now.)

And we might (for the first time in a long while) have a Spring-like Spring Day.

Day 524 – Spring Day(s)

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Today is the first day of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
And it’s also not the first day of Spring.

Wait. What?

There are two first days of Spring, depending upon which definition you use.

September 1st is the first day of Meteorological Spring.

September 22nd is the first day of Astronomical Spring (sort of, anyway; see below).

Meteorological seasons revolve around what’s happening with the weather on Earth, primarily viewed through temperature cycles, while Astronomical seasons are based on what’s happening in space and where the sun is relative to the Earth.

So yes, today is the first day of Spring here in South Africa… if you’re using the Meteorological Calendar.

And why would you do that? Well, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a few good reasons:

Meteorological observing and forecasting led to the creation of these seasons, and they are more closely tied to our monthly civil calendar than the astronomical seasons are. The length of the meteorological seasons is also more consistent, ranging from 90 days for winter of a non-leap year to 92 days for spring and summer.
By following the civil calendar and having less variation in season length and season start, it becomes much easier to calculate seasonal statistics from the monthly statistics, both of which are very useful for agriculture, commerce, and a variety of other purposes.

Those are good reasons. But then they came from a meteorologist’s point of view. If we’re looking for a (possibly) less arbitrary, but more variable and difficult to use system, we still have another 3 weeks of winter – which seems entirely plausible, because despite what the so-called “temperature cycles” are supposed to be doing, it’s still very chilly here.

What happens during the September Equinox?

earth's-illumination-during-different-season-in-different-hemisphere

This:

During the September Equinox, the sun switches sides from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere of the earth. That’s why the September equinox is also known as the Southward Equinox.

…and that Southward Equinox marks the start of (Astronomical) Spring.

In conclusion:

The official start of Spring this year is the 22nd September.
Although because of that late evening solstice, the first day of Spring in Cape Town will actually be the 23rd September.

Oh, and it’s also today.

Day 159 – Spring Day lolz

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Yes. It’s Spring Day. The start of Spring if you are a meteorologist. In the Southern Hemisphere.

And you could almost believe that it was Spring, were it not for the weather warnings issued by… er… meteorologists. In the Southern Hemisphere.

Stuff like:

And:

Actually, tomorrow’s is a bit of a weird one: rather than the usual low pressure flying across the Southern Atlantic from Argentina, this deep low has formed over Namibia and is heading down the West coast as we speak. Were it a bit further inland into the Karoo, we’d be into cut-off low, “Black South Easter” territory, but it looks like this one will sweep around the Cape coast and dissipate as it heads off South West from us into whatever is down there (spoiler: not much).
So not quite another Laingsburg (hopefully anyway), but it will still be wet and windy.

That said, today has been a massive 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, so I’ve done all of the washing and I’m going to lob some burgers on the braai this evening ahead of tomorrow’s nastiness. Because it’s also worth noting that while the rest of the week is also “Spring”, it’s looking every bit as unpleasant going towards the weekend. That’s because of a weak, transatlantic (“normal”) cold front.

I’ve said it before, but when I moved over here, I’m sure that September and October used to be nicer than they are now. The seasonal South Easter would set in sometime around late September and then we’d know that there was a change in seasons. Likewise, it would have moved on by New Year, leaving January and February to just be hot instead of hot and stupidly windy.

All of that has changed. The South Easter hasn’t given up until March in the last few years, ruining an extra three months of otherwise perfectly lovely outside time.

I shall be contacting my local representatives if that happens again this time around.

But hey, that’s all some distance away.
Let’s get through tomorrow’s excitement first, shall we?

 

Batten down your beagles.