A week from today, before the sun rises in our mountain time zone, the summer solstice will occur. Days will continue to get longer through the 20th, after which they will begin to shorten until they reach their shortest three weeks into December.
Next Tuesday, springtime officially ends, and summer begins. At our altitude and latitude here in the Rockies, it is now not completely dark at 10 p.m. (2200 hrs). The aspens are still silhouetted black against a darkening sky. And yet it may snow here tonight, freezing temps are expected.
A couple of hours drive north Yellowstone has taken a beating from serious rains and flooding. The park has been temporarily closed and both visitors and employees evacuated, though the rangers will stay and the road crews will be busy - for the rest of the season it appears. Gaia does as she chooses, and we humans are left to cope.
Four decades ago on roughly this date we were in Fairbanks, Alaska, having driven up the Alaskan Highway. I stepped outside the RV at 1 a.m. and, with much younger eyes, was able to read a newspaper by ambient light. The voracious mosquitoes made sure I didn't linger.
