Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Winter begins today. Although the sun is shining, it’s low in the sky. Today’s sunset won’t be the earliest of the year — that occurred 9–13 December — but the sun will be at it’s annual low altitude of just 18° above the southern horizon at solar noon (transit), which occurs at 1236 MST at my home northwest of Kalispell. If you’re six feet tall, your shadow will stretch more than 18 feet. You can use the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Sun or Moon Altitude/Azimuth Table to compute the Sun’s position for your location.