Storyteller's Night Sky 2026-01-21 (The Coldest Night of the Year this Week)

The first New Moon of the New Year happened on Sunday, and now we approach what is traditionally known as the coldest night of the year, the eve of St. Agnes, on January 20th. According to meteorologists, there can be arctic outbreaks that linger through March, but January is climatologically the coldest month of the year for most of the Northern Hemisphere.  But why is January the coldest, when the shortest day happens in December? This is due to a phenomenon the weather folks call seasonal lag. At Winter Solstice we experience the shortest day, longest night, and lowest Sun angle. But the Earth’s surface and oceans retain heat during the warmer months and only release it gradually, and not on cue just because it’s solstice.  During late fall, incoming solar radiation is still slightly greater than outgoing heat, but come December, this changes. Again, according to climatologists, in December heat loss increases, even after daylight begins to increase, causing temperatures to keep falling. As a result, temperature averages typically reach their lowest after solstice. There are other factors that reinforce this coldest period. These include large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns that have the effect of sweeping cold air from polar regions into lower latitudes.  And there’s also a phenomenon called albedo, which is related to snow cover. What I’ve learned is that because snow cover is more widespread and most extensive in January, it amplifies the cold by reflecting light off the surface of the Earth, rather than absorbing it. This directly impacts temperature. We could also credit the stars with this seasonal chill, as the mighty constellation Orion, known in indigenous cultures as Winter Maker, marches through the night, guardian of the furthest reaches of the cosmos, positioned as he is from our perspective looking away from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Esoterically, outer cold calls for an innate strength, to meet the world with warmth of heart. And this is essential now. So this week, on the coldest night of the year, as Orion strides through the night, his belt of stars aligned to the celestial equator, it’s the perfect time to leave the familiar for awhile, and to ponder greater things, like this, from the mystic poet Hafez: All the hemispheres in existence Lie beside an equator In your heart. Greet Yourself In your thousand other forms As you mount the hidden tide and travel Back home. All the hemispheres in heaven Are sitting around a fire Chatting While stitching themselves together Into the Great Circle inside of You.