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Broken_Hippotoday at 3:40 AM3 repliesview on HN

Yeah, kinda.

I moved from Indiana to Norway - Trondheim, which is about in the middle of the length of Norway. During the summer, I can read outside at night even though the sun technically goes down for about 4 hours in June. It never gets darker than twilight. A few clouds means you might just have sunset all night. The sun does get surprisingly hot and very warming if we happen to have a sunny day. Jacket in the shade, short sleeves in the sun even though it is 18C/65F.

The reason for this is that the sun is at a low angle, so it hits more of your body than it does when the sun is overhead - like you'd get in Australia. This also means that while you need some sunscreen during the day - from about 10 to 5 - it doesn't burn as much. It is less intense in that way - but it just feels different.

During December, days are 4 hours of very weak light.


Replies

kakaciktoday at 7:38 AM

This low angle situation must have been experienced by every adult I imagine, its just about being outside before dawn and feeling how sun's warming effect on the body is much stronger than few hours ago even though air temperature itself might have been higher before.

Since it hits body more perpendicular its not rocket science, I realized this around age 10 myself and I am not the brightest in the pack.

TeMPOraLtoday at 5:44 AM

> The reason for this is that the sun is at a low angle, so it hits more of your body than it does when the sun is overhead - like you'd get in Australia. This also means that while you need some sunscreen during the day - from about 10 to 5 - it doesn't burn as much.

Not sure if I parse this correctly - I'd imagine you need more sunscreen at "low angles" due to more severe and longer exposure? Low angle -> more body surface area exposed directly at near-right angle to Sun -> more direct absorption -> more sunscreen needed?

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picofaradtoday at 5:29 AM

Huh now I know why I never liked living in Washington and Oregon, especially at higher altitudes. The sun always felt hotter.

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