The dark days are over! Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the YEAR – with just 7.5 hours of daylight in Britain

If you’re starting to get bored of the dark days, we have good news; everything is here.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

At exactly 15:03 GMT, the sun will shine over the Tropic of Capricorn and appear to ‘stand still’ in the sky.

On average, Britons will only get 7.5 hours of light, but the exact time will vary depending on how far north or south you are.

To put this into perspective, that’s nine hours less sunlight than at the summer solstice, when Britain gets more than 16 hours of daylight!

As temperatures continue to drop, sunny hours will thankfully increase starting today.

Astrophysicist Dr. from King’s College London. “The amount of daylight is at its minimum and the night is the longest,” said Shyam Balaji.

‘After the December solstice, days begin to lengthen in the Northern Hemisphere.’

The word ‘solstice’ comes from the Latin words ‘sol’ (sun) and ‘sistere’ (to remain still).

‘This refers to the point at which the Sun’s apparent movement north or south pauses before changing direction,’ Dr Balaji said.

This is because our planet is tilted on its axis by approximately 23.5 degrees relative to its orbit around the sun.

This tilt provides varying amounts of sunlight to different parts of the world throughout the year.

“During the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere tilts farthest from the Sun, resulting in the shortest day and longest night of the year in that hemisphere,” Dr Balaji added.

The length of the day will vary depending on how far north or south you are.

In London, Brits will enjoy 7 hours 49 minutes and 42 seconds of sunshine, while those further south in Truro will enjoy 8 hours 1 minute and 55 seconds of sunshine.

In contrast, people living in the village of John O’Groats in the north-east tip of Scotland will have just 6 hours 16 minutes and 54 seconds of daylight today.

At exactly 15:03 GMT, the sun will shine over the Tropic of Capricorn and appear to ‘stand still’ in the sky

Today is the shortest day of the year, as well as the first day of winter on the astronomical calendar.

This calendar is based on the Earth’s tilt and predicts winter to begin on December 21, 2025, and end on March 20, 2026.

In contrast, the meteorological calendar always has the first day of winter as December 1 and ends on February 28 (or 29 in a Leap Year).