Light is one of Miami’s signature characteristics. And lately we haven’t gotten much.
In Summer we enjoy a Caribbean sun; it can feel like a slap on the head when you step out of the shade. Then there is the Monsoon season, where it rains every afternoon. But in Winter, we are in a temperate Paradise: sunny, warm, bright.
But not this December, at least not so far. We have had unseasonable rain. Heavy rain alternating with blindingly heavy rain, and puddles so big they amount to small ponds. Thunderstorms. Daily. For a week. And the forecast is for it to continue. And when it’s not raining it is cloudy and dark. On Saturday I overslept badly–really badly–because the light I count on to wake me up on weekends never appeared.
I do grasp that many people reading this will be living in places where the sun rises late and sets early this time of year, and experience has taught me that such people are not in the main terribly sympathetic with complaints about our winter weather. But consider that this season is supposed to be our reward for the brutality of an August that usually runs from mid-May to some time in November, and perhaps you will see why I think Nature is not playing fair this year.
You’re right I am not sympathetic. I live in London. Sunrise today was at 0751 and sunset will occur shortly, at 1552. In the period in between, ostensibly our period of sunlight, it has been unrelentingly grey. We do have gloriously long summer days as recompense, something that I try to remember at this time of year but it is not easy.
I was just in Alaska and I live in London and have some sympathy. Alaska’s winter light is dim but fascinating – twilight lasts well over an hour on each side of the very short days, so the length of time there is daylight compares favorably to London – with far less cloud and gloom. That said, the sun in Fairbanks rises only a few inches (my perspective) above the horizon, and moves sideways until sunset. I think further north – say, Barrow, you get about an hour of twilight per day right now.
wg