I never noticed this before but the shadows on a december early morning are very deceptive. Shadows normally fall east or west during the summer, spring and fall. Y’know cuz the sun moves across the sky east to west. So explorers can tell which direction they are going. But the december shadows in the morning actually fall north-way, because the sun is so low in the sky. It makes me wonder if hikers have ever gotten confused and thought that the december morning shadows are falling west-ward instead of north-ward.
was noticing this shadow issue myself the other day. it was noon, and the sun was way over there in the south. in theory, the sun should be directly above. but the sun would only be directly above you at noon if it was the fall or spring solstice and you lived on the equator. right now (winter) the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the southern hemisphere because of the earth’s tilt – they have summer right now and we have winter for this very reason. so i guess in the winter, the sun will always be somewhere in the southern sky. in the summer, it will be more in the center, right above us. it will NEVER be in the northern sky! isn’t that weird?