Weather Blog: Winter is Here

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Winter will officially be here December 21st at 10:27 pm (ET) as the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. The Winter Solstice marks the day with the least amount of sunlight in the northern hemisphere due to the earth’s tilt - the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun during the winter.

“The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year” per the National Weather Service. While it is the shortest day of the year we will not see a drastic change, the difference between December 20th’s day length and the solstice’s day length is roughly 2-3 seconds.

While we are moving into the winter season we are actually closest to the sun, this is called perihelion. In the summer we will experience aphelion when the sun is the furthest away from the sun in its orbit. The earth’s seasons are based on the planet’s tilt in correlation with the sun. The solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn which is south of the equator.

We have the equinoxes for the start of the spring and fall seasons where the sun is directly over the equator. For the winter and summer solstices, the earth’s northern hemisphere is tilted away (winter) or toward (summer) the sun.