Correction needed?
During my browsing, I also came across a website that addresses this man’s claims, indicating that the Sun has always risen north of due east and set north of due west in the USA. In this website, Steven Dutch from the University of Wisconsin indicates that everyone who thinks the Sun is setting further up north has some kind of “Nature Deficiency Syndrome” which is why they have never noticed the “fact” that the Sun has always risen north of due east in the USA.
I must admit that when I noticed the Sun shifting its rising and setting location, I thought about this situation and made the same assumption as many other individuals have made, which is that because we are north of the tropic of cancer, the Sun should always rise or set south of due east. This assumption seems to be incorrect. If you visit this website you will see a graph that shows the Sun rises and sets north of due east during the Summer.
However… while the premise around the tropic of cancer, as well as my other thoughts in relationship to the equator, may be wrong, it is the case that I’m not the only one who has noticed that the Sun is rising and setting further North than in the past. I don’t attribute my recognition to a “Nature Deficiency Syndrome” because I have been greeting the sunrise daily and observing the sunset casually for the past 6 years from the same location. I know, the Sun does rise further north in the Summer than it used to. I noticed the first change around 2006 and this shift has continued through 2010.
The real issue is not whether the Sun should rise south or north of due east in summer. To focus on this point is to get diverted from the fact that the summer Sun has been rising and setting further north than in the past.
Do you think that perhaps these shifts may provide some explanation to the changes in weather patterns that among other things have recently brought about 11 inches of snow in some parts of Australia even though it is summer there (read article)?