California will start getting more sunlight after winter solstice. When is that?
Despite the frosty temperatures being experienced around California, winter isn’t quite here yet.
The season formally kicks off on Dec. 21 with the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year with the least hours of sunlight throughout the day.
When is the first day of winter?
In the northern hemisphere, the official start of the winter season is the winter solstice.
This year, the astronomical event lands on Dec. 21.
What is the winter solstice?
The winter solstice occurs when the Sun travels south in its path in the sky, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
“On the day of the winter solstice, we are tilted as far away from the Sun as possible, which means that the Sun’s path across the sky is as low in the sky as it can be,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
When this happens, it’s winter for the northern hemisphere, while in the southern hemisphere, it’s the start of summer.
During the winter solstice, the Earth orbits tilting “at the greatest angle of the plane of its orbit, causing one hemisphere to receive more daylight than the others,” NASA said in a blog post.
In the northern hemisphere, this will create “the most indirect sunlight, causing cooler temperatures,” NASA said.
The winter solstice can be on Dec. 20, 21, 22 or 23, according to Time and Date, an online world clock and calendar.
Last year, the winter solstice was also on Dec. 21.
What time will sunrise and sunset happen?
The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year.
Sunrise will be at 7:19 a.m. on Dec. 21 and sunset will be at 4:48 p.m., according to Time and Date.
This means that those living in the northern hemisphere will only get nine hours and 28 minutes of sunlight on winter solstice.
When will California get more sunshine?
After the winter solstice, the days will get progressively longer.
According to Time and Date, the days will slowly get longer during the winter at daily intervals into the spring season.
The day after the winter solstice, California and the rest of the northern hemisphere will gain one second of daylight, according to Time and Date.
By the end of December, we will have gained an additional 33 seconds of daylight.
When the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, rolls around on March 19, those in the northern hemisphere will have gained two hours and 31 minutes of sunlight, according to Time and Date.
On the spring equinox, the Sun “crosses the celestial equator” and we experience equal hours of daylight verses night time.
The sun will rise at 7:09 a.m. on the spring equinox and set at 7:17 p.m., according to Time and Date, which will equal 12 hours, seven minutes and 38 seconds of sunlight.
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