Equinox
Around 7:30 on Sunday morning, give or take a few minutes, the Earth’s lines of latitude became exactly parallel to the line described by the center of the Earth and the center of the sun, the light of which shone directly into the depths of certain deep wells near the equator, and spring (supposedly) began.
The last few days in the north country have blessed us with abundant sunshine, but it's still been cold in the mountains: it was generally in the 20s at Carter Hut except during the early afternoon, when the sun might finally warm the place to 35 or so. Meanwhile, in the valleys, there's been t-shirt weather.
I went lift-serviced skiing yesterday with Neil, a former Carter caretaker and currently an employee at the Mt. Washington Observatory. He told me that the abundant solar energy we've been getting these days can warm up the valleys, where the air is relatively still, in the course of a few daytime hours. But just as it takes longer to boil a pot of water than a mug of tea, the sun warms the protected air masses of the valleys much more quickly than it takes to warm the entire atmosphere after a long, cold winter. In the valleys, the sun can melt last night’s ice in a couple of morning hours, but in the mountains, we have more snow to reflect the heat of the sun and more wind to carry it away, and hence more exposure to the still-frigid bulk of the atmosphere. We'll have a couple more weeks of winter yet- time enough to ski Tuck's once or twice, I reckon.
Also, an off-topic bit of miscellaney: while I was out in the backcountry, the Maine legislature passed LD 85, which establishes Moxie as the official beverage of the State of Maine. A fine law if I ever saw one.
The last few days in the north country have blessed us with abundant sunshine, but it's still been cold in the mountains: it was generally in the 20s at Carter Hut except during the early afternoon, when the sun might finally warm the place to 35 or so. Meanwhile, in the valleys, there's been t-shirt weather.
I went lift-serviced skiing yesterday with Neil, a former Carter caretaker and currently an employee at the Mt. Washington Observatory. He told me that the abundant solar energy we've been getting these days can warm up the valleys, where the air is relatively still, in the course of a few daytime hours. But just as it takes longer to boil a pot of water than a mug of tea, the sun warms the protected air masses of the valleys much more quickly than it takes to warm the entire atmosphere after a long, cold winter. In the valleys, the sun can melt last night’s ice in a couple of morning hours, but in the mountains, we have more snow to reflect the heat of the sun and more wind to carry it away, and hence more exposure to the still-frigid bulk of the atmosphere. We'll have a couple more weeks of winter yet- time enough to ski Tuck's once or twice, I reckon.
Also, an off-topic bit of miscellaney: while I was out in the backcountry, the Maine legislature passed LD 85, which establishes Moxie as the official beverage of the State of Maine. A fine law if I ever saw one.
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