Here's something you might be interested in.
The Time of Sunset changes most rapidly this time of the year. This is mainly because the sun is swinging rapidly south along the ecliptic (its apparent path through the background stars). From the latitude of San Diego, the sun is now setting about 75 seconds earlier every day (equivalent to about 9 minutes earlier per week), and its setting position along the horizon shifts southward about 1/2 degree per day.
Summer Thundershowers, having blessed the eastern margin of San Diego County with welcome, if spotty precipitation of late, have triggered a minor growth spurt among certain kinds of vegetation. In the desert, for example, the spidery ocotillo can grow an instant crop of green leaves after a storm, only to drop them two or three weeks later if no further rain arrives. The distribution of green-leaved ocotillos tells not only where rain has recently fallen; it also indicates where the runoff has collected and remained for enough time to be absorbed by the ocotillo's root system. Various cacti may also benefit from the downpours; barrel cacti expand in girth by soaking up water, and the pads of the beavertail cactus plump up like overstuffed pillows.
The Time of Sunset changes most rapidly this time of the year. This is mainly because the sun is swinging rapidly south along the ecliptic (its apparent path through the background stars). From the latitude of San Diego, the sun is now setting about 75 seconds earlier every day (equivalent to about 9 minutes earlier per week), and its setting position along the horizon shifts southward about 1/2 degree per day.
Summer Thundershowers, having blessed the eastern margin of San Diego County with welcome, if spotty precipitation of late, have triggered a minor growth spurt among certain kinds of vegetation. In the desert, for example, the spidery ocotillo can grow an instant crop of green leaves after a storm, only to drop them two or three weeks later if no further rain arrives. The distribution of green-leaved ocotillos tells not only where rain has recently fallen; it also indicates where the runoff has collected and remained for enough time to be absorbed by the ocotillo's root system. Various cacti may also benefit from the downpours; barrel cacti expand in girth by soaking up water, and the pads of the beavertail cactus plump up like overstuffed pillows.