Winter Solstice

December 21st

We are in the deepest stage of winter, but there is (sun)light at the end of the tunnel. Today is Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year with the sunrise at 7:11 am and sunset at 4:15 pm.  After today, we will start to gain daylight, for example the sun will set at 4:21 pm on New Year’s Eve.

You might have already noticed that it’s still light a few minutes later than in early December. The sunrise, however, doesn’t start getting earlier until January 9th. Once we get past January 9th, we are gaining daylight on both ends of the day. From now until the end of January we are going to gain 49 minutes of daylight.  We will have days that are almost an hour longer by February 1st.

Most of the daylight growth occurs at sunset. We will gain 33 minutes of daylight at the end of the day, and only 16 minutes at sunrise. You’ll really notice the sunset by mid-February. You get off work, and notice that it’s still light when you get home. It seems to happen all at once, like a light switch was flipped.

We are (only) 158 days away from Memorial Day. So, take heart knowing that warmer, sunnier days really are on the way.

source: Mark Torregrossa MLive.com