For six months, the days have shortened and the nights have lengthened in the northern hemisphere. But that is about to be reversed. The 2022 winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the official start of winter, is this Wednesday, December 21. Its operation has fascinated people for thousands of years.
First we will look at the science and the precise timing of the solstice. Then, we will discover some ancient traditions and celebrations around the world.
The science and time behind a winter solstice
The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun appears in its southernmost position, directly overhead at the distant Tropic of Capricorn.
The situation is reversed in the southern hemisphere. There, the December solstice marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer in places like Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa.
When does it happen exactly?
The solstice usually, but not always, occurs on December 21. The time that the solstice occurs and the day itself changes because the solar year (the time it takes for the Sun to reappear in the same place as seen from Earth) does not exactly match our calendar year.
If you want to be super-precise about observing it (and who doesn’t?), the exact time of the 2022 winter solstice will be Wednesday at 9:48 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), according to EarthSky.org and the Almanac. of the Farmer. That’s almost six hours later than last year.
Here are some examples of when 21:48 UTC will be at various local times in places around the world. Due to the time difference, most of Asia will receive the winter solstice on Thursday, December 22.
- Tokyo: 6:48 a.m. Thursday
- Hanoi, Vietnam: 4:48 a.m. Thursday
- New Delhi: 3:18 a.m. Thursday
- Istanbul: 00:48 am on Thursday
- Jerusalem: 11:48 p.m. Wednesday
- Copenhagen, Denmark: 10:48 p.m. Wednesday
- Charlotte, North Carolina: 4:48 p.m. Wednesday
- Winnipeg, Manitoba: 3:48 p.m. Wednesday
- San Francisco: 1:48 p.m. Wednesday
- Honolulu: 11:48 a.m. Wednesday
To check the time where you live, the EarthSky website has a handy time zone conversion table. You can also try the conversion tools at timeanddate.com, timezoneconverter.com either WorldTimeServer.com.
In which places can the effects of the winter solstice be seen and felt most?
Daylight decreases dramatically the closer you are to the North Pole on December 21.
people in the warm Singaporejust 137 kilometers or 85 miles north of the equator, barely notice the difference, with only nine minutes less daylight than during the summer solstice.
At a higher latitude, in Parisstill logs a respectable eight hours and 14 minutes of daylight for a walk along the Seine.
The difference is more marked in the icy Oslo, Norwaywhere the sun will rise at 9:18 a.m. and set at 3:12 p.m., resulting in less than six hours of anemic daylight.
residents of name, alaska, they will be further deprived of sunlight with only three hours, 54 minutes, and 31 seconds of very weak daylight. But that’s downright generous compared to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. You are inside the Arctic Circle and you will not see a single ray of daylight.
What causes the winter solstice to occur?
Because the Earth is tilted on its axis of rotation, we experience the seasons. As the Earth moves around the sun, each hemisphere experiences winter as it moves away from the Sun and summer as it tilts toward the Sun.
SOURCE: CNN
