Bealtaine festival and first day of summer

It is approaching midsummer on the June Solstice as the North pole is about to reach its final position midway to the dark hemisphere of the planet and thereby creates the greatest radius which expands out to the circumference known as the Arctic circle. After the Solstice as the North pole moves closer to the dark hemisphere from the other side, the circumference where the Sun remains in view starts to shrink until it disappears altogether on the September Equinox.

The entire surface of the Earth turns parallel to the orbital plane as a function of the orbital motion of the Earth and quite apart from daily rotation. It is the expanding and contracting circles with the poles at their centre that alerts the reader to the genuine mechanism behind seasonal weather and events.

One of the most influential innovators in Earth sciences was the meteorologist Alfred Wegener, who literally began the topic of plate tectonics, by using bits and pieces from various research disciplines. Some may imagine the central theme of summer as a meteorological event does not include planetary dynamics, however, this is contrary to the productive and expansive perspective when it does-

“Scientists still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence. ... It is only by combing the information furnished by all the earth sciences that we can hope to determine 'truth' here, that is to say, to find the picture that sets out all the known facts in the best arrangement and that therefore has the highest degree of probability. Further, we have to be prepared always for the possibility that each new discovery, no matter what science furnishes it, may modify the conclusions we draw.” ― Alfred Wegener, The Origin of Continents and Oceans

To come to understand that the North pole is reaching its final position in a few days where the greatest radius to the dark hemisphere is created, the greatest diameter and ultimately the greatest circumference where the Sun remains in view combines both weather and planetary motions in a lovely relationship. The same is happening at the South pole where the maximum circumference (Antarctic circle) where the Sun is out of view is presently happening before that circle starts to shrink after the June Solstice. All sorts of biological and meteorological events occur, such as the appearance of the Atlantic hurricane season and the disappearance of Arctic sea ice to its minimum extent as temperatures continue to rise in the Northern hemisphere and continue to fall in the Southern. Midsummer is simply the milestone where meteorology/astronomy meet and explain what follows.

All it takes is the addition of another rotation, aside from daily rotation, where the circles expand and contract with the North/South poles at their centre by introducing the new rotational perspective arising as a function of the orbital motion of the Earth. It replaces the awkward and deficient 'tilting Earth to the Sun' perspective and introduces the observer, meteorologist, geologist, palaeontologist, biologist to a new, more creative and productive use of the Earth's motions.

"What is meant by "greatest radius to the dark hemisphere?" At this time of year, in your lexicon, the north pole is in the illuminated hemisphere, so while I don't dispute any of that, I am not sure what point is meant by "greatest radius to the dark hemisphere?" "

It is really for interested people so perhaps I could have expressed it more clearly for others, although there is no prohibition on anyone else from tidying up the explanation with a competent grasp of visual information. I don't make points, this is information sharing so I expect anyone who associates cyclical weather like the seasons with the underlying dynamics to work through things themselves.

Polar sunrise at the North pole happens on the March Equinox as the North polar latitude turns into the light hemisphere of the Earth and travels across that light hemisphere over the next 6 months until it re-enters the dark hemisphere on the September Equinox. Tomorrow is the June Solstice when the North pole is exactly halfway to the dark hemisphere where the radius is at its maximum from its point of departure on the March Equinox.

Think of the distance travelled by the North pole parallel to the orbital plane and across the light hemisphere for 6 months as a diameter. The midpoint of that diameter is midsummer (tomorrow) where the greatest circumference on the Earth surface, with the North pole at its centre, has the stationary Sun constantly in view (Arctic circle). After the Solstice, that circle will begin to shrink as the radius between the North pole and the dark hemisphere in the direction of the September Equinox shrinks as the Earth surface continues to turn parallel to the orbital plane.

I would remind interested people who would prefer to link cyclical weather with planetary motions that they take the important view of Galileo and therefore all solar system researchers in this matter as it refers to what is happening on the Earth's surface including atmosphere, oceans and landmass rather than project perspectives to the Sun-

"He [Copernicus] thus speaks of "sunrise" and "sunset," of the "rising and setting" of the stars, of changes in the obliquity of the ecliptic and of variations in the equinoctial points, of the mean motion and variations in motion of the sun, and so on. All these things really relate to the earth, but since we are fixed to the earth and consequently share in its every motion, we cannot discover them in the earth directly, and are obliged to refer them to the heavenly bodies in which they make their appearance to us. Hence we name them as if they took place where they appear to us to take place; and from this one may see how natural it is to accommodate things to our customary way of seeing them." Galileo

Most here are into computer simulations for short term weather events and I enjoy and read this speculative side of weather, however, weather is also cyclical and this would only interest those who get satisfaction from discerning motions that have been going on since life emerged on the planet. If it is any consolation, not everyone is cut out to handle cyclical weather and its underlying cause even though this is the real gateway to planetary climate research and more complex matters.

It should be clear enough that there is cyclical weather, whether as part of the day/night cycle or part of the seasons so although it does not compete with short term weather modelling, which is open-ended, it comes within the umbrella of meteorology which in turn sits inside climate and ultimately solar system research. it goes from the short term to the longer term to the really long term in term of the motions of our home planet.

Just as there is sunrise, noon and sunset every day as the planet turns once, so there is an annual version with a surface rotation responsible for each individual cycle. Where the two surface rotations combine, we get the seasons, so the expanding and contracting circles with the North/South poles at their centre make for a new and exciting approach with visual information from satellites looking back towards the Earth or out at other planets affirming the new perspective every step of the way.

There is really nothing difficult about this new perspective with the help of contemporary imaging so while I understand the irritation of those who just wish to keep the weather forum as a short term speculative pursuit, weather also must have its foundations in more definite terms. I have been on the newsgroups for 27 years or so and know all too well how a topic for consideration can be disrupted by all sorts of poor behaviour, including 'cr*pflooding', which dumps disjointed and idiosyncratic narratives into a disciplined consideration. The first instance of this was Newton and his meaningless attempt to 'define' time, space and motion for his followers-

(Press 'cancel' when asked).

In short, it is a bad character who attempts to muddy perspectives by appearing to know about topics which they have little or no understanding of yet frighten readers enough that the genuinely curious are distracted or do not follow disciplined narratives and especially visual narratives.

There is nothing to be gained at this stage by criticising limited perspectives, after all, the principles which constitute the core of this topic eventually find their way into explanations to wider society, it seems there are those intent in stumbling their way to conclusions which would be clear to those who make the effort to start from scratch and use actual imaging to discern cyclical weather from the planet's motions. As Copernicus was the first to discover the reasons behind the weather/temperature fluctiations of the day/night cycle and for the seasons, although deficient, his statement on those who don't follow consistent logic is relevant to this thread and commenters who are willing to obscure the reasonable line of logic leading to two surface rotations responsible for annual weather ( seasons).

"In contrast with the Ptolemaic models . . . although they have extracted from them the apparent motions, with numerical agreement, nevertheless . . . . They are just like someone including in a picture hands, feet, head, and other limbs from different places, well painted indeed, but not modelled from the same body, and not in the least matching each other, so that a monster would be produced from them rather than a man. Thus in the process of their demonstrations, which they call their system, they are found either to have missed out something essential, or to have brought in something inappropriate and wholly irrelevant, which would not have happened to them if they had followed proper principles." Copernicus

This weather forum appeals to those who work off short term modelling so they find it painful, at least most do, when cyclical weather is brought up for discussion and see it as a hindrance. They are not obligated to read these posts yet neither can they completely ignore the connection between the motions of our home planet and cyclical weather hence I urge patience or avoidance of a thread where this things pop up for consideration. It sometimes happens that moderation is a reaction against more expansive views as opposed to the general interests of readers, however, there has to be room to use information from different disciplines in a disciplined way to present and demonstate a more satisfying connection between all Earth sciences under the umbrella of a moving Earth in a Sun-centred system.

The relationship of the body to its surroundings roughly scales up to the relationship of Earth sciences to our solar system surroundings and just as complex. The heart specialist may try to ignore the brain, lungs, kidney and all the operations of the human body external to his expertise, however, that is impossible without taking into account all the other factors of a human life and its daily operation. The same with the Earth sciences of biology, geology and climate for all are encompassed by a moving planet in a Sun centred system and amazing all the intricate parts acting together to make this planet special. Your analogy falls far short of what readers experience as weather and especially cyclical weather which has to do with our planet and ultimately geographical climate (relationship of different planetary parts like ocean, atmosphere, landmass to each other) and planetary climate (relationship of the rotating and orbiting planet to our parent and central star).

It happens that when people leave a dark room and suddenly encounter bright light they find the experience painful or unsettling as its takes a while to adjust to new surroundings with more things to see. As time goes on and the eyes adapt to new surroundings, familiarity starts to make sense of what is new so that the person does not want to go back into the dark because what is inspiring is always more satisfying than what is novel. I say this as a Christian-

"What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. " https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1

I can therefore appreciate why you would find a more expansive discussion of weather as a cyclical phenomena to be irritating, however, you cannot speak for everyone and especially those who would like to see a more balanced view of weather and climate in terms of the relationship between planetary motions and temperatures, including the daily and annual fluctuations.

Nobody is obligated to read these threads and most discovered that they can continue to work with short term weather predictions to their hearts content without having to exclude cyclical weather and climate from the forum.

Cyclical weather such as the seasons is appropriate for a weather forum although many just want to play around with computer simulations for short term outcomes. I use it myself to organise events or journeys based on weather.

What is inappropriate are those who cannot transition to the relationship between weather and planetary dynamics and show themselves to be childish or petty on that account. Nobody has to read these posts much less complain about them so stick to what you know and witness the emergence of something good for a change. As far as I can tell, anyone showing the least interest in the more expansive perspective will have their posts removed.

Most of the secondary information has been covered to exhaustion, however, the main obstacle in order to appreciate that the Earth has two separate rotations to the Sun is axial precession as a solution for the Precession of the Equinoxes. The solution for that observation, where the stars appear to drift 1 degree every 72 years is from the same observation where Sirius drifts by one day/rotation after every fourth 365 day cycle, an observation recognised in remote antiquity. Just as there are not 365 rotations for one orbital circuit, neither are there 1461 rotations for four annual circuits, again, this part of the topic has been covered many times with the emphasis on older timekeeping frameworks allied with contemporary observations of the Earth from space.

The distinct surface rotations acting in combination can be seen from time lapse of Uranus provided by the HST, however, this demonstration is largely blocked these days for whatever reasons so still images have to suffice.

The original explanation for the seasons as an outline did partly describe the motion of the poles in a circle each year but Copernicus dropped this explanation as it was impossible to make it fit with the Ptolemaic framework by which he was obligated to justify his descriptions. I am reluctant to inrtroduce this aspects such as the Precession of the Equinoxes as it tends to complicate matters unduly for those who wish to appreciate why weather in 6 months will be colder than it is presently yet some issues simply cannot be avoided such as the seasonal relartionship of the North/South poles to the light and dark hemispheres of the Earth along with the expanding and contracting circles with the polar latitude at their centre-

Although not entirely accurate, it gives interested readers a better perspectives of the pinch point which prevents productive individuals from appreciating the actual cause of cyclical weather across the year. It is entirely appropriate for a weather forum.