Colorful consolation

​Darker December days may indeed create more color. Despite gray days, I had captured some stunning sunsets as the area moved toward the winter season. 

​My observations led me to search the internet for why it seems winter sunsets and sunrises appearmore brilliant. 

​Articles pointed to a few factors that aided in the brightening of the winter skies. A combination of low humidity, the angle of the sun and clouds have led to some stunning displays. 

An article by Brian Resnick titled "Sunset color science.." posted at this site said, “Low humidity + cleaner air = more intense sunset colors.”

​In the post, NOAA meteorologist Stephen Corfidi explained how tiny particles in the air called aerosols can attract water vapor in more humid weather and hinder the way we see colors. 

​“They’re essentially acting like a paper napkin in the air, they’re scattering the light,” he said. “They’re reducing the intensity of the light, and they are reducing the spectral purity.”

Corfidi was also quoted in an article titled “Why winter sunsets are best, according to a meteorologist” posted at The Optimist Daily.

​In the piece, Corfidi said peak sunset season for the middle latitudes (… Northeastern United States) is November through February, and it has to do with the confluence of a few meteorological factors.

Meanwhile, Resnick wrote in his article that as “we approach the winter solstice, the time the sun takes to set lengthens, due to the angle the sun takes in setting into the ground. … the sun sets on more of an angle, drawing out the time it takes to set.
​
Resnick explained that “sunset colors linger closer to the winter solstice, which allows us to enjoy them for longer.”

​Additionally, Resnick’s article mentioned that clouds could add to the sunset displays.
Corfidi is quoted as saying, “In the wintertime, it’s more likely you’ll get well defined cloud systems.” Corfidi said the systems are the result of a stronger temperature gradient between the north and southern latitudes, and a stronger jet stream.

Nonetheless, the winter solstice is approaching quickly.
The December solstice in Pennsylvania is at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, In terms of daylight, this day is five hours, 52 minutes shorter than the June solstice. In most locations north of the equator, the shortest day of the year is around this date, according to www.timeanddate.com.
The site also mentioned that the earliest sunset is on Dec. 7 or Dec. 8.

---

​Despite the lack of daylight, I was able to use my crystal ball or lens ball to capture the colors as the sun faded into the darkness.

My original lens ball had sustained some scratches in several accidents. There were quite a few times when trying to get photos I had to chase a rolling glass ball across the porch floor. 

​​However, Gus had also taken the ball and it’s carrying case out of a drawer and dropped it outside in the dog kennel. It was hard to determine when exactly the marks appeared.

So, a new set of three was ordered: small, medium and large.
​
Well, the large ball had already sustained a drop onto the ground due to the fact that it was too heavy for a tripod mount.

​Luckily, the ground was not frozen and cushioned the fall.

​When a sparkling sunset wasn’t available, I turned my attention to my Christmas lights.
​The results were colorful despite the lack of real light.

​That's just the nature of things round here.