Astronomical winter officially begins at 4:19 a.m. EST on Dec. 21. But what does that really mean? AccuWeather's Damien Lodes explains.
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00:00We're about to head into Christmas week, but before we get there, there's one other thing we have to talk about, and that is the winter solstice.
00:06It happens on the 21st, which is Saturday. I know, it's coming up so quick, and it happens specifically at 419 a.m.
00:14This is Eastern Time. This is also the start of astronomical winter, and it is the shortest day of the year by the amount of sunshine we see here across the Northern Hemisphere.
00:23So what exactly is the solstice, and what does it have to do with? Well, it's primarily due because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis.
00:30The Earth is actually tilted at 23.5 degrees on its axis, and that's what actually gives us our season.
00:36Some folks think that the distance between the Earth and the sun is what actually gives us the seasons, but actually, no, it's the tilt of the Earth on its axis.
00:44That's where we get winter, fall, spring, and summertime here across for the Northern Hemisphere.
00:50Wintertime here as we head into the weekend, so this is what we're going to be watching out for that.
00:54So overall, this is the setup. These are the different time periods that we see the different equinoxes or solstices.
01:01The solstices happen for both winter and summer, and all of these are almost exactly three months apart with the winter solstice being for the most part December 21st,
01:10but on some years, it can happen on the 22nd.
01:13So here for Earth on the 23rd, with that 23.5 degree tilt away from the sun, that's what ends up giving us our shortest day of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere,
01:22but the opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere, they get their longest day of the year, which is why it's summertime.
01:29Think about Australia, summertime is down there.
01:32So here's the overall setup here. It can get pretty cold here. It's going to get cold on Saturday, so heads up for that.
01:38Overall, the solstice begins 4 a.m. there on Saturday morning. That is going to be the beginning of astronomical winter.
01:44Stay right here with IQWeather head, we'll have more updates right after this.