You’re not imagining it: the days are getting longer now that we’re through the winter solstice.
About 103 seconds longer to be exact, says Bruce McCurdy, astronomer at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton.
The shortest day – Dec. 21 – had just seven hours, 27 minutes and 37 seconds of daylight. By Dec. 26 the sun will be out for seven hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds.
The winter solstice is the most important astronomical event of the year, McCurdy says – so important that we set our calendars by it.
“That is the moment when the Earth’s north pole is maximally tipped away from the sun,” he said.
The Earth’s axis is on a tilt, so we get further and further away from the sun as we orbit it. That makes us colder and colder, and triggers winter. Once we pass the winter solstice, we start getting closer to the sun, warming up until the summer.
Due to the Earth’s elliptical orbit, notes local astronomer Murray Paulson, we’ll actually be at our closest point to the sun on Jan. 1. This makes our winters far warmer than they would be if we had a circular orbit.
The winter solstice is traditionally considered the start of winter, McCurdy says, even though we’ve had winter weather for many weeks already. Ancient civilizations celebrated it, as it signalled a return to longer days.
This year’s winter solstice happened at 4:12 a.m. MST on Dec. 21, McCurdy continues, making that evening the longest night of the year.
“This is the low point of the season in terms of how much light we get,” he said.
Local residents might have noticed the sun dipping lower and lower in the sky at noon every day over the last few months as we got closer to the solstice, Paulson says. Now that we’re past the solstice, the sun will start moving up again, but so slowly that it will seem stationary over the next few days – the word “solstice” means “standstill.”
We rack up a measly 7.5 hours of daylight around this time of year, McCurdy notes, compared to a staggering 17 during the summer solstice.
“It’s a big difference for us,” he says, caused for the most part by our high latitude.
So what can you do with an extra 103 seconds of daylight?
“Enjoy it,” Paulson suggests. “Breathe in that fresh air and the fact that spring is somewhere down the road.”
