Sir, – Alison Coughlan (March 24th) inquired why Summer Time begins approximately 13 weeks after the Winter Solstice, while Winter Time begins approximately eight weeks before the Winter Solstice.
Why this lack of symmetry? The late, and much missed, Brendan McWilliams, in his Weather Eye column in this newspaper on March 26th, 2005, Easter Saturday, explained that this arrangement is adopted to minimise the darkness of February and March mornings.
The Earth moves faster in its orbit at certain times of the year than at other times so that actual daylight hours are not synchronised with the clock hours that divide the day. This results in more daylight being available on October mornings than on mornings in February and March.
To compensate for this, Summer Time – moving the clocks forward an hour, so that we get up an hour earlier – is delayed for several weeks. – Yours, etc,