Switch

It is really as of a switch has been turned on all of the sudden: The weather patterns going from deep winter, right into growing spring. Not the kind of spring that brings green and flowers sprouting. no, but more the type of Scandinavian early spring, where you have increased amounts of light - and people start to get aware of that. Second; the temperatures during daytime are suddenly much milder, often between 5-10°C. Periods of less clouds = more sunshine during the way. Then you've got the rapid melting of snow.

Even the GFS outlook for Stockholm

changed considerably - looking like this (see below). All of the sudden you spot a temperature curve mainly above freezing (all red). It was not a long time ago, when it was constantly located below 0°C, down to -20°C in the outermost areas of Stockholm.

Daytime

is now close to 11 hours, instead of 6 hours and something during December and January. Which perhaps isn't so surprising given that in just 15 days we'll have springtime equinox. Then on the last Sunday of March, we change to "summertime". Making even evening brighter than normal.

Cold

For the time being, i am coughing myself through the nights, having a cold - while staying at home. Which is both nice as well boring at the same time Because once you are partially knocked down, your mind isn't as sharp as it normally is. Luckily it seems to be a cold that isn't particularly heavy - and I am thankful for that.

Clear night

It is one of those clear night - albeit with a strong moon - allowing me to keep the Olympus OM-1 as well the Olympus EM1X staying out for hours, taking star trail images at my balcony. I noticed in one of the photos, that there was a very, very weak presence of auroras at the north horizon. But really weak - and not visible to the naked eye.

It could be, due to a corona hole, as the Index after 22.30 local time, suddenly rose from 1 to 5. That is actually the level when you start to see (or take photos) of Northern lights over Stockholm. Normally i would say 5.5 to 6 is even better - because those that appear around Index 5 are often night bright enough to see with the naked eye. Albeit when you are far away from the city, you do see a lot more !!

Same goes for bright comets - which become a LOT brighter when you view them in the extreme outskirts of Stockholm

Pity i only did that once really, when the super large Hale-Bopp graced our skies back in 1997. It looked so much larger out there like "3-4 times", compared to how it looked in the city. You could see much more of the tail(s), much longer, brighter and broader - while in the city of Stockholm, Hale-Bobb was reduced to a fuzzy "star" with a very short tail. And most people who didn't know about its location, never looked at it / nor saw it

You need a comet falling onto your head

then the people really "wake up". When it is too late... That kind of style, if you know what I mean.

Boy, are are a "funny" species. Like little critter machines going on automatic. Now more than ever, given how most faces are looking down instead. Locked onto a silly screen... showing virtual "realities".

Real Life only happens when you look up and around you.