The Winter Solstice is upon us. For those of us in the Central time zone, the solstice will occur Monday, December 21, at 10:48 p.m. For those of you in Colorado, the event occurs at 9:48.Earthsky notesthat a solstice is a cause of celebration for people all over the globe. It means early sunset and late dawn. It’s the shortest day and longest night of the year.
Technically, the December solstice is when the sun on our sky’s dome reaches its farthest southward point for the year. Earth doesn’t orbit upright. Instead it’s tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees. The tilt of the Earth—not our distance from the sun—is what causes winter and summer. The December solstice means the Northern Hemisphere is leaning most away from the sun for the year.
Be sure to look at your noontime shadow on the day of the solstice. It’s your longest noontime shadow of the year.
