For those in northern areas or UK/Europe---Is it getting colder and darker earlier now that before? Or is it my imagination?

I live in the states and have always chuckled to myself that people talk about it being colder than any Christmas ever before, or more snow than ever before, or hotter than ever before. Generally it is cyclical. If you live long enough you go through some very cold winters and some very warm ones, I realized this in my teens. In my family we just referred to it as a cold winter this year. But getting darker is a new one. It will be interesting to hear what people say to that.

Yes, it is. It has been gloomy and dark since morning. Snowed for quite a while too. Though a white Christmas is always welcomed, it is a little dull when such days keep continuing day after another. Still, Christmas is just around the corner and I am keeping my spirits high, every way possible. **hick!**

That’ll be the snow clouds looming!
Shortest day is only 3 days away then it’ll slowly start getting lighter again!

Happening here in the States.
I hate it! And, it has been raining the whole week.

It makes coming home from work a drag.

I’m in south-west of England and yes, I agree with you. It’s very dark already and bitterly cold. We haven’t had any snow yet and I am hoping it will bypass my little area of the country all together.

It’s your imagination. It may be colder than usual, but it can’t be darker. Darker due to clouds, maybe, but you have the same number of hours of daylight.

Northeaestern US. The darknees is a fixed thing based on the earths tilt and revolution. Winter storms seem to be coming earlier and with greater intensity though.

In the south, it has been getting dark earlier than I’ve been use to.

Folks, really, it may be cloudier, but it cannot be getting darker earlier at the same time of year. The only way that can happen is if the time is arbitrarily changed, for example, daylight saving time being extended or shortened. Since daylight saving time has never gone this far into the year, there is no way that it is actually getting darker earlier. Unless you Brits have done some screwy thing with you time zones, like setting all your clocks forward an hour and not going back, then the days are the same length they were last year at this date. And the year before, and ten years ago, and 20 years ago.

@Snarp Yep that’ll be me! I ran around everyone’s homes in a Santa Stylee resetting all their timepieces, I’ve even buggered up the British RDS signals. Mwwaahh haha.

I find that people confuse December with winter. The worst months in the Northern Hemisphere are Jan, Feb. They are the coldest and snowiest generally. But, as mentioned above the shortest days are upon us now.

I heard it’s an el nino this year? Where I live (Washington DC) it’s almost unheard of to get any snow before Christmas, but we’ve already gotten about four inches of snow a week ago and it’s supposed to snow all weekend starting tonight. Usually we get one or two snows all winter, they don’t start til January, and it’s only an inch or two at a time. This is why people from farther north, like Obama, laugh at us. It seems like there has been a lot more rain this fall, too. The UK is as warm as it is because of the gulf stream, and I think the El Nino messes with ocean currents, so maybe it is getting colder there this winter.

It’s the clouds. Planetary orbits and rotation are pretty stable.

@JLeslie I agree. People start talking about it being winter in late November. January, February and sometimes even parts of March bring much worse weather – at least here.

@Supacase The WORST is March psychologically I think, because you think winter is ending finally and then it continues to have some very cold days and some snow. March just pisses me off living in the North.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Glad I moved to Seattle then. After last winter (and the resulting power outage), I think I’ve had enough of that stuff. At least the big storm they’re tracking for this weekend looks like it’ll be way South of you :D

I agree that it’s been pretty cold lately, but I don’t think it’s getting darker any earlier than it was the same time last year.

@JLeslie – That is so true, I always hated March most of all!

It seems to be much colder this winter (in the UK) than the previous few years. Whether the cold lasts all winter, or is just for a short while, is yet to be seen.

Bring back global warming! ~shakes fist~

The length of time that Sol appears above the horizon could only be changed by changing the speed of Earth’s rotation or else its axial tilt, or by changing the laws of physics. For you to notice either by looking out the window would require a drastic change indeed, which would require a great deal of external force. I suppose that an asteroid could do it.