Welcome to the Winter Solstice!

 


The winter solstice marks the day with the longest night and the shortest day of the year, in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere experiences the opposite and has the shortest night and longest day. In Jacksonville, we'll have 10 hours, 11 minutes and 21 seconds of daylight. 

The solstice is caused by Earth’s tilt in combination with the orbit around the sun. During the solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is aimed farthest away from the sun (tilt is 23.5 degrees). The date of the solstice always falls somewhere between December 20 and 23rd each year.

The amount of sunshine will continue to increase until the summer solstice, which is always around June 20th.


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