Let's welcome Winter 2024 with its chilly temperatures, a season that brings the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

As the Northern Hemisphere welcomes spring today, the Southern Hemisphere is marked with the first day of autumn.

The exact moment of the winter solstice varies from year to year due to a slight misalignment between the Gregorian calendar and the actual rate of the Earth’s rotation around the sun.

Teh winter solstice is Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. Chris Sims is a digital content producer for Midwest Connect Gannett. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisFSims.

Summary: The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and the winter solstice the longest night. This assembly is particularly suitable on, or near, the summer solstice - usually 21 June.

around June 21 (commonly known as "Summer Solstice" for being the first day of summer and the longest day of the year) and December 21 (commonly known as "Winter Solstice" for being the first day ...

(The opposite holds true for the Southern Hemisphere, where June brings the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year.) Read on for some more intriguing facts about the summer solstice.