Pitch black at 7 pm? (Was: Re: Gleanings from 3rd Viewing)

[joanne0012]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "Martin Smith" <mediaphen at h...> wrote:
> Heather Moore, the girl with the coolest name on this list, wrote:
> > > The Hogwarts Express departs at 11 am; should it really be pitch black
> > > already at 7pm when they arrive in Hogsmeade?
> >
> 
> Amanda, the Texan, replied:
> > What latitude do you live in, dear? Sure it could be that dark at 7pm in
> > Scotland. Or so this Texan believes; any of you UK-ites out there ready
> > to confirm this?
> >
> 
> And I, not UK-ite, but Swede, pick up the sunlit thread:
> 
> 
> I assume that Hogwarts is in Scotland, quite near Edingburgh, and the
> positon for Edinburgh is 56' N, 4' W. At those coordinates the sun sets at
> 19.12, thus not pitch black at 19.00.

Here's yet another source, that lets us pick the date and city, which says that 
on 1 September it gets dark in Edinburgh at 8:07 PM.  So no way could it be 
dark at 7 PM in any part of Scotland! (I suspect that Martin's site doesn't allow 
for daylight savings time.)  

This same source also gives sunrise as 5:20 AM in London in late July, when 
Harry allegedly tripped over Uncle Vernon in the dark at 6 AM while trying to 
intercept the postman.  Apparently JKR is better-informed about literary stuff 
than about meteorology, LOL.

http://www.onlineweather.com/v4/uk/sun/September/Edinburgh.html