Watch CBS News

Winter Has Officially Arrived

By Justin Drabick

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Today is the first day of Astronomical Winter as the Winter Solstice arrived at 6:03pm.  This is when the Sun's rays are directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere.

This day marks the shortest amount of daylight of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. In Philadelphia, sunset tonight was at 4:39pm with only 9 hours, 19 minutes and 57 seconds of daylight today.

Starting tomorrow, the amount of daylight will slowly increase each day until the Summer Solstice in June.  On March 20th, which is the Spring Equinox, sunset will be at 7:12pm.  The Sun's rays will be directly over the Equator at that point.

You may also be interested in these stories:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.