I can't believe the sun is back! The height of the sun in the sky makes such a huge difference, it's hard to describe unless you live somewhere crazy like Fairbanks, Alaska, where in Winter the sun barely rises above the horizon and in Summer barely dips below. While the sun never really gets very high in the sky, even in Summer, it does get up high enough for the UV light to penetrate the atmosphere and warm things up, but more importantly, hit my skin at just the right angle to produce Vitamin D and give me a nice tan.
If you are a science geek like me, you'll like this online sun tracker. It tells the angle of the sun on any day in any city. Today, here, the sun hit 27.6 degrees at its highest. In New York, the sun was at 50 degrees of angle at solar noon. In Southern California, 60 degrees. I believe the optimum height for Vitamin D production is between 25-45 degrees, something to do with the angle and UV-A, UV-B light. Here is a study, if you like to read!
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