Monday, June 20, 2016

Oh the Strawberry Moon

        Summer solstice is one of my favorite days. We wait for this day for a whole year. We look forward to long sunny warm days. But, it also means that days begin to shorten. But we won't think about that right now.

        This morning the sun rose at 5:13AM and sets at 10:01 for 16 hours and 47 minutes of sunshine.

        But what's really cool about this summer solstice is that in the northern hemisphere we get a "strawberry moon!" You've never heard of a strawberry moon ? Well neither have I.

       The strawberry moon is the name for the full moon in June. This comes from American natives who related the full moon to the time when strawberries would be ripe. So the full moon in June is always a strawberry moon. What's special is the times we have the full moon on summer solstice. It doesn't happen very often. So today we have a full moon on summer solstice. The last time we had this situation was in 1967.

       The following photos were from 2012. Tonight there is a cloud bank in the west.

North side of a house at about 9:35 PM

My back yard at about 9:55PM

Sunset

33 comments:

  1. Happy Summer Solstice to you Red. I never look forward to this day because the days starting getting shorter.

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  2. It looks like a wild party was happening in your back yard that night Red!

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    1. The chairs were empty! Just waiting for somebody to show up.

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  3. We had yesterday the worst rainday in 20 years. Non stop raining from morning until evening. Today the sun shines, so we hope we get a summer at last.

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    1. I don't like a lot of rain. Our average yearly rainfall is 12 in.

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  4. I forgot go out and howl at the moon last night.I will have to look and see if it is still up.

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    1. I haven't howled at the moon for a long time!!!

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  5. I saw something on facebook about a strawberry moon and I didn't know what that was. I did see the moon night before last and it was beautiful, but as always, I cannot get a good photo to save my life. I need a tripod..that's my excuse!

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    1. It's for sure I need tripod for moon shots. It's funny how you cannot keep the moon in the viewfinder.

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  6. We had clouds, too, and a little rain as well. Yes, a full strawberry moon and the solstice is a rare event, all right. I think of the solstice as almost halfway to Labor Day and therefore midsummer, rather than it being in August. The heat just grows from here, even if the days begin to shorten. :-)

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    1. There seems to be some lag when it comes to temperatures on both solstices.

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  7. I've never heard of a strawberry moon -- that's a new one on me. But then, the strawberries in my home state, Florida, ripen in February!

    One of the things I've really had to adapt to, moving to such a northern latitude as England, is the long summer days. I never thought it would be possible to complain of TOO MUCH sunlight, but this time of year, the lack of darkness can be challenging!

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    1. I spent three years above the arctic circle. we had six weeks when the sun didn't set. It was energizing.

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  8. I look forward to shorter days and fall's cooler temperatures. I'm not a fan of summer.

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    1. Sometime the heat makes things very unpleasant.

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  9. You get more light than we do here.

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  10. i saw the strawberry moon as i arrived home from work this morning. she was lovely.

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  11. I love this time of year with its long days. Yes, we won't think about them getting short from here on in. I'd never heard about a strawberry moon before this post. You learn new things from blogging friends!

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    1. This little farm boy remembers the crops being at their peak at this time. After this the green started to fade.

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  12. Last night I looked for that strawberry moon but couldn't find it.

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    1. There will still be a strawberry moon, just not a full strawberry moon.

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  13. There was no sign of the full moon here last night after our shortest day. But I listened to a howling wind and heavy rain and consoled myself that the days will lengthen from here on in.

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    1. Oh you're crafty! I had to think about this one for second before I caught on.

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  14. Hi Red, This is an interesting post. I was curious how much difference there would be between Red Deer and Seattle on the longest day of the year and the amount of daylight. While you were 16:47 we were only 15:59. I was kind of surprised that the difference would be that much given, what seems to me, to be a relatively small difference in latitude. I guess it has to add up pretty fast though, to be 24 hours at the North Pole! By the way, you may alread know about this page, but if not, think you will find it interesting ... especially the "sun graph" ... http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/canada/red-deer

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  15. I saw the moon the day before solstice, last Monday driving home from Amsterdam. It was very clear visible. Didn't know it was the last time in 1967...wow.

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  16. The full moon was so bright coming in the bedroom window it woke me up. I thought it was time to get up and it was 2 am!

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  17. No dancing by the light of the full moon on Solstice here. We had a surprise thunder storm and rain until midnight.

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  18. I know what you mean about long, light days. But I was spoiled recently with our trip to Scandinavia - 18 hours of sun a day. It just made you feel far more alive.

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  19. Reminds me of when as children, my sister and I were allowed to stay up until 10 o'clock to play outside, with the evenings being so long.

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