Sir, – In reference to the letter of December 24th, which refers to a "grand stretch in the evenings", might I remind you that there has been a stretch in the evenings since December 12th.
It’s a common misconception that the evenings are getting shorter until the solstice on the December 21st, and then proceed to get longer. Rather, while the shortest day of the year is on the winter solstice, there is a mismatch between the Sun rising ever later in the morning, and its setting later in the evenings.
In particular, sunrise will continue to be later in the mornings until December 30th, but the Sun has been setting later each day since December 12th, but on December 21st that amount exceeds the delay in sunrise, meaning that while the days have indeed been getting longer since December 21st, the evenings have seen a “stretch” since December 12th. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN NOLAN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.