"Solar Power"

Every Cascadian, when emerging from his or her home today, peeked up to the sky then danced gleefully in the street. The sun is out again, making it two days in a row of blue sky. Moreover… sun is forecast for the entire next week. Hallelujah. We haven’t had a week of sun for months. Literally.

Left: Early morning blue sky over Bellevue and the Cascade Mts.

In terms of light, this is a tough time in the Pacific Northwest. The sun rises late and sets early. Thick cloud cover is the sky-du-jour just about every “jour” of the winter season. Magnifying the deprivation is that most folks arrive to their offices before sunrise and leave them after sun set. We end up a city of moles, squinting into the glare of the occasional sunny day, sunglasses long misplaced in the weeks of dreary grey. It’s a bit of a shock to the system, albeit a welcome one.

Many folks up here feel the effects of this. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) sets in with a mild case of the blues, lethargy and a general desire to hibernate. Many of us take a sun trip sometime between January and early March to off set this. It doesn’t have to be warm (although that is the ultimate winter escape). A ski trip to Idaho or Utah can off set the withdrawal. All those sun rays reflecting off all that snow. Some of us get full spectrum light boxes or sunrise alarm clocks Some of us just tough it out.

In the glory days of July and August, when the days are long, warm and lushly green it’s easy to forget this time of year and to remember why we stay. Last week we dared not dream of the sun, it seemed so remote. Today we revel in it.

Quality of Light

In my last post, I mentioned the water-laden air here. Light in Cascadia is heavily affected by this. There is often an iridescent or opalescent quality to the light, particularly on sunny days from fall equinox to spring, when the sun is lower on the horizon. Sunlight shines through the moist air, adding a soft quality and depth to the landscape. The moisture that coats the trees, basalt rock, ferns, everything, deepens their colors as well. The result is visually transfixing. The environment seems to glow. Colors are oversaturated. Capturing this phenomenon has long been the obsession of Northwest artists. (The book, “Iridescent Light,” which tracks the evolution of modern Northwest art through its artists, describes this well.)


(Left: Lupin on Mt. Baker)

Bodies of water in the landscape, large and small, affect the light and the environment’s color palette as well. When the sun appears, the glare off the Sound, the ocean, the lakes, and even the puddles can be blinding. Yet, late in the day when the low sun cuts across the landscape under a bank of heavy clouds, the effect is stunning… like a movie set.

Then, on days like this the steely sky is reflected by the water, and both turn grey. Everything is shrouded in muted tones. Color withdrawal sets in….