wether London October

cooeedownunder · May 17, 2009

I am needing to know what time it gets dark in the middle of October in London - I have the statics below but the daily sunshine bit makes me wonder if they are talking about day light, which I doubt, so is that average basically saying the other hours of daylight would be overcast or raining.

October Weather
· Average High: 57°F (14°C)
· Average Low: 46°F (8°C)
· Average wet days: 13 days
· Average daily sunshine: 3.5 hours

firedrake · May 17, 2009

cooeedownunder said:
I am needing to know what time it gets dark in the middle of October in London - I have the statics below but the daily sunshine bit makes me wonder if they are talking about day light, which I doubt, so is that average basically saying the other hours of daylight would be overcast or raining.

October Weather
· Average High: 57°F (14°C)
· Average Low: 46°F (8°C)
· Average wet days: 13 days
· Average daily sunshine: 3.5 hours

yea, it's not 3.5 hours of daylight...it's how much sun you're likely to see on a given day...October can be wet and windy and miserable but it can also have gloriously sunny days

Puma · May 17, 2009

Many (maybe most) larger newspapers have a "sun rises, sun sets" item in them somewhere. In our paper it's with the weather. You should be able to find a London paper from mid-October, take the sun sets time and then add about an hour or less (takes a bit for it to get dark after the sun goes down.) Puma

cooeedownunder · May 17, 2009

Ok, thanks

pdr · May 17, 2009

Check out the...

Resources by Era. There's a section on dates and weather. One of the websites will give you a calendar with moon rise etc on it.

Off the top of my head - being more familiar with Yorkshire and parts North which are darker earlier - I'd say dusk begins around five. Don't forget there is always a long twilight period in the UK, unlike your Oz.

cooeedownunder · May 17, 2009

Ah, interesting just found this - never thought it would be so late getting dark, interesting also that the sunrises so much later then here.

October

Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 6:10pm

firedrake · May 17, 2009

cooeedownunder said:
Ah, interesting just found this - never thought it would be so late getting dark, interesting also that the sunrises so much later then here.

October

Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 6:10pm

It's even worse in December. Go to work in the dark, go home in the dark.

cooeedownunder · May 17, 2009

pdr if they are saying sunset at 610pm, do you mean dusk starts prior to then or goes after that. I am maybe confusing myself...I think we get dusk when the sun starts to go down and it ends with darkness, or am I missing something.

pdr · May 17, 2009

As I understand it...

and use the words:
first the sun sets,
then there is twilight as the light gradually fades from the sky
and
dusk is when that light has gone and twilight is over.

Dusk is not true dark which really come in the middle of the night and early morning, midnight to 2 am,
then there's false dawn
followed by dawn
and
sun rise.

waylander · May 18, 2009

Clocks change at the end of October - 25th this year. That makes a big difference.

After sunset there will still be light in the sky. What do you need your character to be able to do at that hour?

cooeedownunder · May 18, 2009

Something I have been researching happen at 6pm in London in October, and I was trying to work out if it was dark or not.

waylander · May 18, 2009

As mentioned above it depends on the weather. If it is a cloudy/rainy day then around 6pm it'll be pretty well full dark - cars with headlights on etc. If it is one of those clear autumn days then it will be noticeably darker than midday.

cooeedownunder · May 18, 2009

waylander I guess you might be able to answer this, because part of the reason for asking the question was because I was wondering if they may have had fires lit at this time in the streets of slumbs or rookery to keep warm or cook in around 1812 in the middle of October - I know there is no gas lighting at this moment - also needed to work out if the buildings windows would have light coming from them from candles.

waylander · May 18, 2009

It doesn't generally get really cold in October - wet yes, but not frosty. So I would doubt there would be fires on the streets.
I've never heard of cooking outdoors on street fires. I think most of the slums dwellings would have had fireplaces where they did any cooking.

What does Dickens have to say about London streets at this time of year?

angeliz2k · May 18, 2009

When I was in London, I was shocked at how early it started getting dark, especially come December. It would be pitch black by 4:30! The light was beautiful, really, since it felt like twilight for a large portion of the day, with buttery light and longer shadows. Around here we just don't get that.

But in October, as others have said, it wouldn't be dark all that early. You seem to have some good info on sunset/sunrise. If you're wondering what this means in term of darkness, look at the newspaper or weather.com for your area. Compare when it starts getting dark to the given "sunset" time to give you an idea. May and October will be different, but this should give you a ballpark figure.

And are we talking Victorian times? Not everyone might have a timepiece, you know. Even today, not everyone runs by the clock. You could always just say, "at dusk" (or as dark was falling, etc) instead of giving a specific time.

cooeedownunder · May 18, 2009

Thanks for the comments. I found newspaper articles on the incident.

wether London October

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

Puma

Retired and loving it!

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

pdr

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

pdr

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty

cooeedownunder

Grateful for the day