Night/Day Anomoly UK

I also live east anglia, i finished work the smorning at 2:15 am, and yes there is deff a blue sky, strange.

I noticed this about 2 wks ago as ive always started early or finished early with my job, thought perhaps it was just me being unobservant in the past, perhaps not eh

live in the northeast, and it started get light here about an hour ago it is now 3:20am.

have had to sign up with a new account as my old one is playing up

i have also noticed it getting light earlier, it is now 03:40 and it is getting very light out

the other morning it got very very light stupidly early, didn't pay it much attention until this thread

what is going on then?

edit - oh yeah i am in rayleigh, essex

[edit on 15-6-2010 by DeadpoolPete]

Isn't it like one and a half week until midsummer night? At my home in Finland the sun barely goes down for even one hour at night during this time of the year, and on the midsummer night it doesn't really go down at all..

I am currently in the midlands of Ireland and I am amazed how dark it can still be for so many hours.

I suppose it's natural, even though I don't know about the previous years around here.

Assuming it's not just proximity to midsummer (it can look lighter for quite some time before the sun comes up) it could be Comet McNaught, which makes its pass through the inner solar system tonight. Or maybe a touch of the aurora borealis. Either way, nothing to worry about.

Spaceweather.com has a post up tonight about noctilucent clouds in your part of the world. Seems like the most likely explanation. I'm a little jealous!

spaceweather.com...

reply to post by PGRacer


Hi, I've noticed this for the last couple of years and wondered how that is?
When it's pitch black and a clear night there's a glow coming from the North, long before sun-up.

I'll try take a photo tonight, (if I remember). My camera is crap in the dark but I reckon it'll work with the amount of light in the sky from the North.

Someone mentioned it's daylight from the Arctic. Is that what it is?

I live in norfolk and noticed i could see blue sky still at midnight last night,which did seem odd.Maybe because summers on its way?


Regards to all

reply to post by PGRacer


I was saying the exact same thing yesterday! I have frequent bouts of insomnia so i'm often up at all hours of the night/morning, and I noticed on Monday night/Tuesday morning it was getting light at 2:30am.

By 3:00am the birds were chirping their lil faces off, very strange!

What annoyed me most though was that it was glorious sunshine til about 8am and then it went dull and cloudy!

I'm in the North West UK btw.

My sleep this summer has been awful. The birds morning Chorus starts at about 5am and its so loud, it sounds insane. Birds just going crazy outside my bed room window. I've never had it effect my sleep before

My wife and i were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. It hasnt been getting fully dark at all. One morning at about 1am-1.30am the birds started singing? I wasnt impressed as we had to have the window wide open due to being warm? We live NE UK. I was going to ask about this but thought it was normal. (sumertime) but just hadnt noticed.

Mystery solved.

Its Summer Solstice this Monday, the maximum height of the Sun during the day, and the shortest length of Night. Also combining with this time of the year is Noctilucent Clouds which can illuminate the sky to the North as they are lit up from the Sun BELOW the horizon, giving off a hue as they cast the reflected rays back to Earth. almost creating a false "sunrise" some 2 hours ahead of the Summer Sunrise at 4am.

Don't forget the actual Summer Solstice Sunrise is this Monday Morning however, after then we look forward to longer nights and shorter days again.

I too confirm, I was walking home last night at 3 and it was much lighter than it should be.

Although some noctilucent clouds have been spotted this week, they aren't enough to cause any impression of a false dawn.

However, the answer is very simply that it's a few days off the summer solstice. And last night was very clear. That glow in the northern sky is simply the sun, just below the horizon. Where you in Scotland right now on a clear night it wouldn't ever drop below twilight. Where you a bit further north you'd see the sun at midnight right on the northern horizon.

In a few weeks time you'll find that northern glow less obvious and it getting light a little later.

Note: on a cloudy night it will however be a lot darker, wherever you are.

i live in east anglia and i experienced the same thing on monday.
tis time though it was at 12am.
to the north and south it was really dark but to the west it was really light it was almost like dawn breaking.
there was the usual light from the two cities around my area but it was really light so much so it was highlighting the cloud formations in that area.

I was out at 3.15am on Tuesday morning photographing noctilucents and even I was surprised how light it was - but that's midsummer for you

I live in US but come from West Yorkshire. Alot of people in that area mentioned it on Facebook (lastnight 6/15/10). Just to let you know.
I'll have to ask my little bro about, he's up all hours!

Hey everyone.

Just wanted to report in.

So it seems to be happening again. The time was 23:45 I was walking home from the pub and the eastern sky was pretty bright it was like the sun hadn't gone fully down. The northern sky was also bright yet not as bright as yesterday.

I guess it has something to do with mid-summer, i've just never noticed it before.

reply to post by woodwardjnr



Thankyou for posting that vid. Such beautiful birdsong. Here in Sydney I often wake up to raucous Cockatoos and Mynor birds, honking Ibis, laughing Kookaburras, pied Lapwings and trilling lorikeets etc. heh All noisy little critters but I love them all.

Thanks for all the replies. I will try and get a photo tonight if it repeats itself but I am rapidly coming to the conclusion its just a midsummer thing. But good to be able to check in with other people and know Im not going mad. It didnt go dark tonight until about 12.30.

Again cheers for the responses, hope I didnt freak anyone out.