December solstice 2025: The shortest day of the year is almost here
In the Northern Hemisphere, this weekend witnesses the day with the least sunlight in the entire year.
For the roughly seven billion inhabitants of the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, this weekend brings a significant seasonal turning point. Sunday, Dec. 21 will be the shortest day of the year; a phenomenon known as the winter solstice.
What is the winter solstice?
On Sunday, locations within the Northern Hemisphere - the half of the Earth that’s located above the planet’s equator - will get fewer hours of sunlight than on any other day throughout the year.
How does the winter solstice occur?
During its winter months, which come at the turn of each year, the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun as the Earth orbits our star. This means that locations in this hemisphere, including the U.S., are only positioned to receive sunlight at a low intensity and for short durations each day.
The hemisphere’s movement away from the Sun reaches its most extreme point at the winter solstice, whose timing varies year by year, but typically falls on or around Dec. 21, says the U.S.’s National Weather Service (NWS). Afterwards, the days grow gradually longer.
Per the NWS, the precise moment at which this year’s solstice occurs will be 10:03 a.m. ET on Sunday.
When is the summer solstice?
As it then approaches its mid-year summer months, the Northern Hemisphere tilts more and more towards the Sun, allowing it to pick up increasingly intense, longer-lasting sunlight. This peaks with June’s summer solstice; in 2026, this takes place at 4:24 a.m. ET on June 21.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the cycle is reversed: the 2025 summer solstice is on December 21, while the 2026 winter solstice will be on June 21.
For a more detailed explanation on how the Earth’s tilt governs our planet’s cycle of solstices, check out this video by the meteorologist Dr. Rick Knabb:
When are the Northern Hemisphere’s solstices in future years?
Winter solstice
2026: Dec. 21, 3:50 p.m. ET
2027: Dec. 21, 9:42 p.m. ET
2028: Dec. 21, 3:19 a.m. ET
2029: Dec. 21, 9:14 a.m. ET
2030: Dec. 21, 3:09 p.m. ET
Summer solstice
2026: June 21, 4:24 a.m. ET
2027: June 21, 10:11 a.m. ET
2028: June 20, 4:02 p.m. ET
2029: June 20, 9:48 p.m. ET
2030: June 21, 3:31 a.m. ET
Why does the solstice time and date change?
A major reason for the Earth’s shifting solstices is the fact that our planet actually takes a little longer than 365 days to orbit the Sun: 365.2422, to be precise.
To keep our years in sync with the planet’s trajectory around our star, we add an extra day to our Gregorian annual calendar every four years. February gains a day to create what we refer to as a ‘leap year’.
This prevents the solstices from moving around wildly over time. “After only a century without leap day, summer wouldn’t start until mid-July!”, NASA explains.
However, the leap-year system would only be exact if it took the Earth 365.25 days to orbit the Sun. As it is marginally faster than that, an extra method of correction is required: We don’t have leap days in years divisible by 100, unless they’re also divisible by 400. For example, 1900 was a leap year, but 2000 was not.
But even with this exception in place, our calendar cannot prevent slight shifts in solstices’ date and time.
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