Sunshine, on my shoulder...

Gives me a sunburn, of course!

 Living in Colorado, everyone talks about how strong the sun is. Did you know that for every 1,000 feet in elevation, there are nearly 5% greater ultra violet rays. Imagine living at a mile high, that's more than 25% ouchier sunburn; sunscreen is always a must!

Moving to Florida, I've been admonished by many folks, "Don't forget the sunscreen. The sun is really strong here." I have to admit I may have rolled my eyes because of all the Colorado training I had...but Floridians aren't thinking about that, they care and want us to be safe. After all, we are a lot closer to the Equator...

Being an inquisitive writer, I wanted find out if one was worse than the other: elevation or equator. (I love Google...)


UV Awaremess is a place to go for detailed info. I discovered many factors affect UV strength, including:

1. Latitude and time of year: Basically, the closer you are to the equator, the higher the UV levels and the smaller amount of ozone that can filter out the harmful rays.
2. Time of Day: "Solor noon" is the issue here. It can be summed up by noting the length of your shadow...shorter shadow? Higher UV!
3. Ozone Levels: We've heard about ozone for years and there is good reason, it helps filter the rays.
4. Reflection: Both water and snow intensify the effects of UV rays. So when you're surfing building a snow fort, be sure to screen up and re-apply if you get wet or sweaty.
5. Altitude: Higher altitudes mean thinner atmosphere yielding powerful rays. So, when you put on your ski boots, be sure to slop on plenty of sunscreen, you've got the double whammy of reflection and altitude.
6. Clear or Cloudy Skies: A cloudless sky obviously provides great saturation of rays but what many people don't know is the amount of UV that can scoot right on through cloud cover, up to 80%. So don't be fooled into being unprotected.

The moral is be aware that UV rays are harmful anywhere. Plenty of sunscreen, covering up skins, limiting time in the sun, especially from 10am to 4pm can help reduce the effects of the harmful rays. For more complete information on sun safety, visit this site, Melanoma.

Until next time, Eli

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