Winter solstice means barely 9 hours of sunlight for Boston on 2024's shortest day
BOSTON - Winter is coming, Boston. This Saturday, Dec. 21 is the official, astronomical start of the season, otherwise known as the winter solstice.
At 4:20 a.m. on Saturday, the Earth's tilt will be at its farthest point away from the sun in the northern hemisphere. The sun will be situated directly over the Tropic of Capricorn.
Shortest day, longest night of the year
This means a few things: The sun will be at its lowest elevation in the sky, and Saturday will be the shortest day of the year with only nine hours and five minutes of daylight.
You could look at this two ways, glass half full or half empty.
Sure, we are currently in our darkest days of the year but there's also the more optimistic approach: Starting on Sunday, we will be gaining daylight each and every day until the summer solstice.
And, the farther north you live in latitude, the faster you will gain back your daylight - something we can brag to our friends about who flee to Florida this time of year.
The winter solstice and perihelion
Here is a weird fact you can throw out at the Christmas dinner table: The Earth is actually closer to the sun during the winter solstice than during the summer.
The Earth reaches perihelion (its closest point to the sun in its orbit) just a few weeks after the winter solstice and is at its farthest point (aphelion) in the summer.
Our seasons have everything to do with the tilt of the Earth and not its orbit.
Coldest air of the season for Massachusetts
Right on cue, the coldest air of the season thus far will arrive this weekend, during the solstice.
Temperatures for the majority of the Boston area are likely to remain below freezing from Friday night through Tuesday morning.