Can someone explain this weather phenom to me?

Today where I live in the northeast USA, the sun set a minute later then yesterday, a week before the winter solstice, the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. By the time the solstice hits, it will set even a few minutes later. The reason today (or yesterday) isn't the shortest day of the year is that despite the fact the sun is now setting later, it continues to rise later. In fact it will continue to rise later until the very first days of January, quite a bit after the solstice. In summer the opposite is true, the sun starts rising later before the summer solstice and continues to set later after the summer solstice.

Why is this so? What brings on this unevenness? Why doesn't the sun rise the latest and set the earliest on Dec 21st?

Elves.

While not a direct answer this link about the seasonal changes should give you an idea of the issues affecting the system. Might also be helpful to remember that sunrise and sunset times vary based on location. That variance is not just by longitude but also by latitude, how far north or south of the equator you are. In fact some of our members far enough north may not be seeing more than twilight right now with the sun never rising.

that's where flashaholic's are born, and every winter they're sent out into the world. Don't be fooled by rudolf's red nose, that's just light discipline for stealth, and to preserve night-vision for urban landings. When the sleigh gets out of sight, Daner and Blitzen light up twin 1000w short-arc's.

I saw this on Doctor Who last year.

The Daleks have stolen the earth and are towing it away for some nonsensical technobabble reason.

LuxLuthor said:

Elves.

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Wait, what kind of elves are we talking about? Lord of the Rings elves, Chirstmas elves, or Keebler elves? Are they vulcan-looking elves, or short elves?

Yes, those are the ones.

Mjolnir said:

Wait, what kind of elves are we talking about? Lord of the Rings elves, Chirstmas elves, or Keebler elves? Are they vulcan-looking elves, or short elves?

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The kind that helped run over Grandma :laughing:

It's probably due to the Earth's orbit being an ellipse instead of a circle. The Earth is moving faster in December than June because it's closer to the sun. (Or is it the other way around.)

Mjolnir said:

Wait, what kind of elves are we talking about? Lord of the Rings elves, Chirstmas elves, or Keebler elves? Are they vulcan-looking elves, or short elves?

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It's not the kind of thing that benefits from over-analysis.

baterija said:

While not a direct answer this link about the seasonal changes should give you an idea of the issues affecting the system.

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Cool link there. Very informative. Thanks. :twothumbs

Possible causes:
1. You are in the wrong time zone
2. Mirage (refraction of light)
3. Beer
4. Chip weevils in the quartz movement of your wristwatch

A guy at work said he thought it had something to do with the wobble of the earth's axis.

2012!

Low batteries. Replace.

You can generate a full year's sunrise/sunset times for your location courtesy of the USNO. Useful for planning hunting/fishing trips.

tsmith35 said:

You can generate a full year's sunrise/sunset times for your location courtesy of the USNO. Useful for planning hunting/fishing trips.

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Oh cool. Next the net will give us black hole and time warp generators, and you won't even need a DeLorean.

Wait, I followed the link, entered my state and city...and it's still dark outside. There's no sunrise being generated. What kind of crap is this from our government now?

LuxLuthor said:

Wait, I followed the link, entered my state and city...and it's still dark outside. There's no sunrise being generated. What kind of crap is this from our government now?

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:shrug:Link works for me. Are you using IE? Go into Internet Options and enable Flux Capacitor.

The flux capacitor will only work with a stainless steel computer case. It helps with the flux dispersal.

LuxLuthor said:

Elves.

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Exactly