LANSING, Mich. — We've reached the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, with Winter officially arriving as of 4:20 AM Saturday.
The shortest daylight period of 2024 will check in at 9 hours, 2 minutes, and 3 seconds today in Lansing. Sunrise at 8:05 AM will be followed by a 5:07 PM sunset, both of which we should actually get a chance to see for a change. From here, we'll start adding a few seconds of daylight each day through the end of the month, eventually becoming a few minutes per day by late-January. We'll do that until we hit the Summer Solstice on the other side of the Sun in June.
The Winter Solstice marks the point in Earth's orbit around the Sun where the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest away from the Sun. Earth sits a bit lopsided in space, tilted at an angle of about 23.5 degrees. That tilt is the reason we experience seasons throughout the year, as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres take turns pointing toward or away from the Sun.
With the Northern Hemisphere leaning away from the Sun, our half of the planet receives less sunlight, and thus the atmosphere on this side of the world cools. By contrast, the Winter Solstice here is the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, which is pointed toward the Sun. For folks in Australia, South America, much of Africa, and Antarctica, Christmas is actually a Summer holiday.
Spring is only three months away!
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