A Grieving Family Gets Their Father's Sunset, Thanks To The Kindness Of Strangers

Sunset over Mankato, Minnesota on January 16. After a
gloomy two month period in Minnesota, the sky lit up
on the day Vietnam veteran Craig Wilson passed away,
Photo from Sparrow Media via Facebook

In this (in my opinion) dark age of America, I'm always looking for the light. 

So, too, was a grieving Minnesota family this winter

Vietnam veteran Craig Wilson was laid to rest this winter on a dark, overcast day at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Preston, Minnesota.

In the final couple months of his life, as his family gathered with him at a Minnesota hospital, they couldn't help noticing how gloomy and cloudy the weather had been, darkened their mood even more as the family patriarch faded. 

Wilson died on January 16.  Late that afternoon, the Minnesota sky lit up with what locals say was one of the most spectacular sunsets in memory. Wilson's family took it as a sign.

Wilson's daughter, Emily Canney, took in that sunset. But after it was over, she realized she never took a photo of it. Which was important, given her father's memory 

"'All that night and all the next day, I'm kicking myself because I didn't get a picture,' Emily said. 'How could you not capture this stunning glorious sunset?'"

Sunset over rural Minnesota on January 16. Photo by
Sandy Zimmer Gaulke

Canney went to the "That's so Minnesota" page on Facebook and wrote: "I'm wondering if any of you amazing photographers happened to capture last night's sunset. My dad passed away yesterday and I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a picture."

Canney hoped that maybe one photographer would respond.

Instead, 883 people did. A few of them offered condolences without a photo. But the overwhelming majority of respondents posted photos of that January 16 Minnesota sunset. 

There were pictures of the sunset over cities. The sunset over the prairie. The sunset over the north woods. Sunset over an informal ice hockey rink. You get the idea. 

Then there were comments like this: "Your dad must have been special for God to have painted such a beautiful sky."

In this age when there's too much darkness around, it's gratifying that so many people want to literally show each other the light. 

It might seem like a small gesture, posting a sunset photo to raise the spirits of a grieving daughter.  But every positive, "small" gesture is really a big one.

It's wonderful that the weather cooperated to create this beautiful sunset, this beautiful tribute. Even better were the people who went outside in the middle of a Minnesota winter to capture a sky glowing in all those colors.  

It's all about finding the light. 

  

Glimmer Of Hope: Earliest Sunset Comes Before The Winter Solstice

The earliest sunsets of the year and the latest sunrises
of the year by latitude. Source: EarthSky.org

 Every day since December 3, the sunset has been at 4:13 p.m. at least as measured in Burlington, Vermont.

That's the earliest sunset of the year. 

Today, December 16, the sun sets at 4:14 p.m. one minute later than it's been for the past couple of weeks or so. 

How can that be? Especially since the winter solstice - definitely considered to have the shortest daylight of the year -doesn't come until Thursday, December 21. (10:27 EST local time to be exact).

As you'd expect, the answer is sort of complicated. 

I'll let EarthSky.org explain it:

"Basically, it's because of the discrepancy between the clock and the sun. A clock ticks off exactly 24 hours from one noon to the next. But an actual day - as measured by the spin of the Earth, from what is called solar noon to the next - rarely equals 24 hours exactly. 

Also, solar noon is simply called midday, because it refers to that instant when the sun reaches its highest point for the day. Thus, in the month of December, the time period from one solar noon to the next is actually half a minute longer than 24 hours, For example, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 7, the sun reaches its noontime position at 11:52 a.m. local standard time, Then, two weeks later - on the winter solstice - the sun will reach its noontime position around 11:58 a.m.. So that's six minutes later than on December 7."

In other words, the one minute later sunset tonight here in Vermont is something of an illusion. But one I will gladly embrace. 

Interestingly, the further south you go, the earlier the earliest sunset happens, if that makes any sense. 

For instance, around here, the earliest sunset of the season is around December. 10.  Head down to Key West, Florida, and the earliest sunset of the year hits around November 29.

Of course, there's a price to pay for the ever so slightly later sunsets starting today.  It also means later sunrises into early January. The sun in Burlington rose at 7:23 a.m. this morning.  The sunrise will continue to get later and later until December 30 - after the winter solstice - when the sun comes up at 7:29 a.m. 

The sun will keep coming up at 7:29 through January 5. After that, it will start going the other way. 

Of course, winter cold lags behind the lengthening days by about a month. "As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens," goes the saying.

On average, the coldest time of year is somewhere around January 21, but that varies greatly year to year. 

Even though the days are getting longer through the first three weeks of January, the sun angle is so low, and the sun is so weak, that the Northern Hemisphere continues to cool.

It's not until February that the increasing angle of the sun just begins to erode the winter chill.  

If you want something to look forward to, the latest sunset of the year in Burlington hits age 8:41 p.m. eastern daylight time. That latest of the year sunset goes from June 21 through July 2.

 

Saturday Lee Update: For Vermont, More Entertaining Than Dangerous

 If we have to be affected by a hurricane or tropical storm in Vermont, this is the way to do it. 

The setting sun shining into high clouds streaming off 
from Hurricane Lee Friday evening lit up 
the skies over St. Albans, Vermont. 

What was once Hurricane Lee, as expected, threw a bunch of high clouds overhead in Vermont Saturday, leading to a kinda interesting sky during much of the day. That led to a gorgeous sunset.

There is a chance we might have a repeat nice sunset this evening. It depends upon how Lee's shield of high clouds that's over us now behaves. 

Lee is not even considered a tropical system anymore.  It does have a warm core, still, which tropical storms have. But on satellite, the clouds with Lee are not circular anymore, but more of a comma shape you see with regular storms. It's also developing a cold and warm front. 

This technicality doesn't matter much on the ground. I don't want to minimize the effects Lee is having on eastern Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick where storm damage is ongoing today from near-hurricane force wind gusts and storm surges.

This won't be as bad up there as Hurricane Fiona last year, but it will still sting.

For us in Vermont, we get off with barely a worry. 

GUSTS ARE COMING

After all the weather drama we've had in Vermont this year, it's nice to see a major weather system not create havoc. Lee might cause some minor inconveniences around here today, but I hardly think this will cause yet another disaster declaration in the Green Mountain State. 

At dawn today, they're barely a breeze in Vermont, thanks to a temperature inversion that often sets up at night. That was mixing out and by mid morning, gusts were ramping up, and will hit the 30 to 40 mph range in many spots across the Green Mountain State.  

 hat's enough to create a few very isolated power outages around the state, but most of us will be fine. 

Gusts in that range are pretty common in Vermont during the winter and usually don't lead to anything noteworthy. But the trees are bare during gusty winter storms in January. 

This time of year, the trees are still leafed out. Each leaf acts like a little sale, pulling trees sideways during gusty weather. That can pull a few trees down. Especially since the ground is still soggy after our awful summer.  It's easier to uproot trees when the soil is wet.

The sharp line between clear skies and a high overcast
from Hurricane Lee was visible over Georgia, Vermont Friday. 

Again, I want to emphasize this won't be that big a deal.  I'm talking isolated, scattered power outages that will be fixed pretty quickly.  You have a really low chance of losing your electricity, and if it happens, it won't last long. 

Like I've said in previous posts, I'd cancel plans to take your boat onto Lake Champlain or other lakes in Vermont. The water will be too choppy and actually kind of dangerous A lake wind advisory is up today, naturally. 

One thing  you might notice if you hit the web page for the National Weather Service in South Burlington. It will look like the radar is lit up with rain.   Actually, some rain is falling from the high overcast that's with us now. But the north winds with Lee are pulling in some dry air, so that rain will keep evaporating well before it hits the ground. 

There might be just a little bit of rain in the Northeast Kingdom, but that's it. 

VERMONT'S "NICE" TROPICAL STORM

Usually, tropical storms and hurricanes are bad news anywhere, including here in Vermont. We only have to look at the catastrophic floods with Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and the destruction from the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 for examples.

But there's also rare but real precedent for tropical storms that are either harmless for us, like Lee today, or actually do more good than harm locally.   

In August, 2020, Hurricane Isaias made landfall in North Carolina as a hurricane and went up the East Coast as a tropical storm.  All along the way from North Carolina to New England, Isaias let loose with dozens of tornadoes, and flash flooding along the way. 

However, when it got to Vermont, ti was different. The center of Tropical Storm Isaias went literally right over Rutland on the evening of August 4 on its way northward through Vermont to Quebec. 

The tropical storm dumped heavy rain on Vermont, especially the western half of the state. .But a drought was going on at the time, so Tropical Storm Isaias was a rare happy big storm for Vermont. It did cause a few power outages, but we survived, right? 

For Vermont Storm Addicts Out There, A Recent Video

Back on September 8, some strong to severe thunderstorms rolled across Vermont

As usual, I like to take videos of said storms. The video in this post is around South Burlington and Burlington of the storm and its aftermath. 

Bonus: Part of the storm's aftermath was absolutely gorgeous.

 I shot the storm with an iPhone and something is funky with the microphone, so sorry about the sound issues.

Snarky me often calls videos of big storms such as violent hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, "weather porn."  Although fun to watch, this particular video is probably more R rated. Sexy enough, but not weather porn.

By the way, word to the wise. Don't Google the phrase "weather porn."  It leads you to some really weird stuff. 

Anyway, back to my storm video.  Many mobile users have trouble seeing videos on this here blog thingy when I insert the video into the blog. If you have that trouble, just click right here on this hyperlink to view. 

If you see the video displayed click on the arrow, then the YouTube logo for best viewing.  And as those pesky YouTubers say, feel free to subscribe to my channel.

Here's the vid!