Winter 2015 Starts Now — Today, Dec. 21, is 2015’s winter solstice which is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight during the whole year.
If this website’s clock is properly synched it is 11:48 p.m.. EST. and that means winter has started.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” As per the Old Farmer’s Almanac: In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer advances to winter, the points on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advance southward each day; the high point in the Sun’s daily path across the sky, which occurs at local noon, also moves southward each day.
At the winter solstice, the Sun’s path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. However, a few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same, or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at “high-noon” on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn.
