Winter solstice
Winter
You don’t have to look up or at the horizon. Just step outside and you know the Winter Solstice starts this weekend.
In Chicago the Winter Solstice also called hibernal solstice begins Dec. 21, 2024 at 3:20 a.m. CT. which will later in the day translate into 6 hours, 6 minutes shorter than the summer (June) solstice according to Time and Date.
This is when the North Pole is at its maximum tilt from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus it will be the shortest amount of daylight and the longest night.
That tilt means about 7 hours and 40 minutes of daylight according to Space.
The Farmers Almanac describes solstice: It comes from the Latin words sol (Sun) and sistere (to stand still) because, during the solstice, the angle between the Sun’s rays and the plane of the Earth’s equator (called declination) appears to stand still.
That’s good to know at a dinner party so Happy Holidays.
