I did a fair amount of research over the 8 days of sun that ended today, and I came to a conclusion. When the sun is out in Dublin, it is at least as strong as the sun in Gurnee in mid-May. It is more than strong enough to bask in a sunny spot, even late in the day.
This was a subject of some speculation before I left the lower latitudes of Chicagoland (42° N), Pennsylvania (40° N), New Jersey and NYC (40° N). At that time, Anita was sending messages that vividly portrayed a dim sun that rarely penetrated thick clouds. To reassure myself, I thought, “Surely Dublin is no higher than the UP — and people sunbathe there, right?” Then I actually checked:
- Michigan’s UP: 46° N
- Dublin: 53° N
Is this one of the many things that cannot be conveyed by reading and research about a place? I couldn’t trust Irish sources, after all; “basking in the sun” might mean something very different to them.
3 Comments to “Reflections on 8 days of sun”
15 June 2007
So are you going to turn into the color of Anita now and fit in with all of the Irish?? :) :) I am looking forward to sept-oct when I come out to visit – tennis, golf, bikes, food, etc – it will be a great time.
15 June 2007
Clearly Doug hasn’t seen the special photo of Anita in the flickr pages. Anita’s skin is an honorary citizen of the Republic, now.
18 June 2007
When I first saw this headline, I thought that there were actually 8 strait days of sun, like Alaska. I wonder if the proximity to the poles and lack of ozone make the sun stronger!