Hi Dick & All,

> About a year ago, solar gain in northern regions was talked about here. Why
not read this first:
>
> http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0312B&L=bee-l&P=R3824&m=45428
>

Quote from Dick A. in the article of the above URL;
"In winter here in the south-central region of Alaska our sky is largely
overcast. The insulating cloud layer sometimes helps to give us a bit
milder range of temperatures than other northern areas. On those days when
the sun is shining brightly, and  the sky has cleared losing it's cloud
blanket, outside air temperatures frequently drop a great deal.  I doubt
the fall in outside air temperature would likely be compensated for by the
brief period that sunshine is striking the front of a beekeeper's hive."

This is largely true up here in December and January but, from February on,
conditions improve dramatically by the week. Mid February the suns radiant heat
can heat the hive walls a lot and melt snow around the hives. This happens at
the time of year when the interior conditions need it the most where it allows
the bees to break cluster and reach stores that may or may not be out of reach.
If the bees have made it to February the suns help on the hive and the interior
heat will in my opinion help matters a lot. I think Scott is making some good
points if thought about in the bees perspective. If I were a bee, I think I
would appreciate the radiant heat of the sun, even in Alaska. A beekeeper should
be conscious of where they place hives so it can benefit from even the winter
sun. In February and March every ten days that goes by means the sun is up
another hour longer, in this two month period the day light increases six hours.
By mid March day light is over twelve hours a day and increasing more by the
day. Usually by the end of March the bees are flying stretching there wings to
say.

 . ..   Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/,
c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/

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