Winter Solstice 2022: Today is the shortest day – after that it goes up

There is hope for everyone who is slowly but surely tired of the darkness – soon the days will get longer again. It will take a while before it gets lighter again in the morning and evening.

Today, December 21, 2022, is a very special one: it is the shortest day of the year, the day of the winter solstice and at the same time the astronomical beginning of winter. At 10:48 PM, Earth is at the southernmost point of its orbit, making the day only 8 hours, 27 minutes, and 31 seconds long.

Incidentally, we have already survived the earliest sunset of the year – on December 11, the sun set in Zurich at 4:35 pm. In Bern it stayed in the sky for another 6 minutes and finally set at 4:41 PM.

You can also look forward to January 1, because that’s where the sun rises last – that’s actually a pretty good thing after celebrating New Year’s Eve for far too long. On the first day of the new year, the sun in Zurich does not rise until 8:13 am.

So it won’t be long before the days get noticeably longer – even if it’s only a few seconds a day for now, they add up quickly and sooner than we think spring will be around the corner.

(ann)