Sunday marks an important day on the calendar, as it is the start of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Unlike the astronomical calendar, which uses the Earth’s position in its orbit around the sun, the meteorological calendar uses the first date of a month to help determine the seasonal change, aiding in record-keeping and other facets of weather prediction.
Meteorological winter will run through the conclusion of February, with spring beginning on March 1.
So when is the winter solstice? When is the shortest day of the year? When will we start seeing more daylight? Here’s everything to know about the changing seasons.
When is the winter solstice?
The winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs when the North Pole is at its maximum tilt away from the sun, giving the hemisphere its fewest hours of sunlight in a given day and coinciding with some of the coldest weather that the hemisphere will experience.
This year, the winter solstice will officially occur at 3:21 a.m. Central Standard Time on Saturday, Dec. 21, according to the National Weather Service.
Local
When is the shortest day of the year?
According to TimeandDate.com, the earliest sunsets of the year in Chicago will actually begin occurring on Monday, with the sun dipping below the horizon at approximately 4:19 p.m.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
That trend will continue for nearly two weeks, with sunset moving to 4:20 p.m. on Dec. 14, according to the website.
Despite the sunset time remaining roughly unchanged, the sunrise time will continue sliding later in the morning, reducing the amount of daylight the area receives by roughly one minute per day.
As we hit the middle of the month, the reduction in daylight will grow smaller and smaller until Dec. 21, when the shortest day of the year will occur in the Northern Hemisphere.
In Chicago, we will see approximately nine hours, seven minutes and 44 seconds of daylight on that date.
When will days start getting longer?
The day after the winter solstice, Chicago will slowly begin gaining daylight, but it’s going to be hard to notice at first. In fact, according to TimeandDate.com, the city will have gained just under four minutes of daylight in the final 10 days of the year, with sunset occurring just before 4:30 p.m.
Around New Year’s Day, Chicago will still be gaining daylight each day, but sunrise will be occurring at its latest point of the year, with the sun coming up around 7:18 a.m. each day.
By the end of January, Chicago will be gaining two minutes of daylight per day, and sunset will be occurring after 5 p.m. for the first time since daylight saving time ended on Nov. 3.
Jan. 30 will also be the date that Chicago eclipses 10 hours of daylight, with bigger and bigger gains coming as the winter continues.
