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Skymap expects the Sun to be at Azi 218° Alt 12° at 3 PM. SOUTH by 38°!
Montana Dec 8: Sun is now setting due South here near Bozeman, MT at 3 PM in the afternoon!
I live up pretty high on the north slope of a mountain valley North of Yellowstone a ways. My Sun is now setting due South. I know this because my house was built with a direct South facing, pointing to a notch between two mountains where the Sun is now 'slotting' right into, on its way out of sight. And because my compass tells me so. And because I've never seen it do this before. Also, it sets at about 3 PM now and is pitch dark by 5. And it only rises above the mountain for about 18+/- degrees of the circle of sky over my head. Would everbody in all of Montana have the same experience? Because they live at differing elevations in different valley breadths, no doubt they would not, but then in larger valley areas, it would not be as noticeable as it is here, which is, of course, why it caught my attention in the first place.
California Dec 2: The sun is setting in the San Francisco Bay Area a full half hour before it set, last year at this time. I have the photos to prove it. Sunset SOUTH.
Seattle Dec 8: At winter solstice the sun is due to set at 235 degrees. It has already moved south of those coordinates. Full darkness at this latitude 46.54 normally arrives at 5 PM in the first week of Dec. However, this year, it has arrived in the second week of November. Dec 21: My readings here in the north, (with a tolerance of one percent for error) were at 216° on the 21st of Dec. (with a 12° obstruction from zero horizon) Dec 23: and today, on the 23 of Dec. were at 214°! (latitude 46.56N) That would seem to coroborate the statements from the Southern Hemisphere! Dec 24: From what I can tell, the sun is still moving south 14 days after it was supposed to reach standstill on Dec. 10. Sunset for Dec. 24, 2004, at latitude 46.56 was at 212° at 3:55 PM. @ 12 degrees above zero horizon! From my perspective that is a retrograde movement of 4° in four days! [Skymap expects 230° SOUTH by 18°. The Sun was expected at Azi 215° Alt 12 at 2:40 PM. Alternative to the Sun setting South, is the sunset late? It was early, before.]
Vancouver Dec 18: Sunset 5° SOUTH. I just did a sunset check today as there was some slight clearing in the clouds near the horizon at 4:00 PM so I could get an approximate measurement. The sun appeared to set as near as I could tell at about 4:14 and Azi 229°. This is the Posted Info Azi 234°, time 4:14. For today, the sunset appears to be within my margin of error when compared to the posted info.
