San Diego sunsets a minute later a day, tides peak this week

The Sun Strides North in February, swinging higher across the sky each successive day. Already quite noticeable is the change in the time of sunset, currently almost a minute later per day, and sunrise, currently almost a minute earlier per day.

Groundhog Day comes Wednesday, February 2. If the sleepy woodchuck sees his shadow, so the story goes, he’ll hole up for another six weeks of winter cold. None of this means much in San Diego, where a February warm spell can easily push the thermometer into the 80s.

Ornamental Pear Trees are bursting into bloom all over town. The thousands of white blossoms appear in sheets and clusters, rather like snow when viewed from a distance. Nice specimens can be seen along Lake Murray Boulevard, along Clairemont Mesa Boulevard between Highway 163 and Interstate 15, in and around Balboa Park, and in parts of downtown San Diego.

Tuesday is Imbolc or Saint Brigid’s Day, one of the four traditional “cross-quarter” days midway between the solstices and the equinoxes. More or less. In the many centuries after this tradition took hold in the British Isles, the calendar drifted with respect to Earth’s position in its orbit, until our current Gregorian calendar system was instituted a few centuries ago to put an end to such problems. So this winter, the midpoint between the December solstice and the March equinox actually falls on February 3rd: at 7:42 p.m. PST.

The above comes from the Outdoors listings in the Reader compiled by Jerry Schad, author of Afoot & Afield in San Diego County. Schad died in 2011. Planet information from SkyandTelescope.org.