December solstice
The December solstice, also known as the southern solstice, is the solstice that occurs each December – typically on 21 December, but may vary by one day in either direction according to the Gregorian calendar. In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice is the winter solstice, whilst in the Southern Hemisphere it is the summer solstice.
| event | equinox | solstice | equinox | solstice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| month | March | June | September | December | ||||
| year | day | time | day | time | day | time | day | time |
| 2016 | 20 | 04:31 | 20 | 22:35 | 22 | 14:21 | 21 | 10:45 |
| 2017 | 20 | 10:29 | 21 | 04:25 | 22 | 20:02 | 21 | 16:29 |
| 2018 | 20 | 16:15 | 21 | 10:07 | 23 | 01:54 | 21 | 22:22 |
| 2019 | 20 | 21:58 | 21 | 15:54 | 23 | 07:50 | 22 | 04:19 |
| 2020 | 20 | 03:50 | 20 | 21:43 | 22 | 13:31 | 21 | 10:03 |
| 2021 | 20 | 09:37 | 21 | 03:32 | 22 | 19:21 | 21 | 15:59 |
| 2022 | 20 | 15:33 | 21 | 09:14 | 23 | 01:04 | 21 | 21:48 |
| 2023 | 20 | 21:25 | 21 | 14:58 | 23 | 06:50 | 22 | 03:28 |
| 2024 | 20 | 03:07 | 20 | 20:51 | 22 | 12:44 | 21 | 09:20 |
| 2025 | 20 | 09:02 | 21 | 02:42 | 22 | 18:20 | 21 | 15:03 |
| 2026 | 20 | 14:46 | 21 | 08:25 | 23 | 00:06 | 21 | 20:50 |
Solar year
The December solstice solar year is the solar year based on the December solstice. It is thus the length of time between adjacent December solstices.
The length of the December solstice year has been relatively stable between 6000 BC and 2000 at 49:30 (minutes:seconds) to 50:00 in excess of 365 days and 5 hours. After 2000, it is getting shorter. In 4000, the excess time will be 48:52 and, in 10000, 46:45.[3]
The length of the day near the December solstice
The following tables contain information on the length of the day on December 22nd, close to the winter solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice of the Southern Hemisphere (i.e. December solstice). The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 22 December 2015, as well as from certain other websites.[4][5][6][7][8][9]
The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the shortest day to the longest one.
| The Nordic countries and the Baltic states | |||
| City | Sunrise 22 Dec 2015 |
Sunset 22 Dec 2015 |
Length of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murmansk | — | — | 0 h |
| Bodø | 11:36 | 12:25 | 0 h 49 min |
| Rovaniemi | 11:08 | 13:22 | 2 h 14 min |
| Luleå | 9:55 | 13:04 | 3 h 08 min |
| Reykjavík | 11:22 | 15:29 | 4 h 07 min |
| Trondheim | 10:01 | 14:31 | 4 h 30 min |
| Tórshavn | 9:51 | 14:59 | 5 h 08 min |
| Helsinki | 9:24 | 15:13 | 5 h 49 min |
| Oslo | 9:18 | 15:12 | 5 h 54 min |
| Tallinn | 9:17 | 15:20 | 6 h 02 min |
| Stockholm | 8:43 | 14:48 | 6 h 04 min |
| Riga | 9:00 | 15:43 | 6 h 43 min |
| Copenhagen | 8:37 | 15:38 | 7 h 01 min |
| Vilnius | 8:40 | 15:54 | 7 h 14 min |
| Europe | |||
| City | Sunrise 22 Dec 2015 |
Sunset 22 Dec 2015 |
Length of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 8:42 | 15:40 | 6 h 57 min |
| Moscow | 8:57 | 15:58 | 7 h 00 min |
| Berlin | 8:15 | 15:54 | 7 h 39 min |
| Warsaw | 7:43 | 15:25 | 7 h 42 min |
| London | 8:04 | 15:53 | 7 h 49 min |
| Kyiv | 7:56 | 15:56 | 8 h 00 min |
| Paris | 8:41 | 16:56 | 8 h 14 min |
| Vienna | 7:42 | 16:03 | 8 h 20 min |
| Budapest | 7:28 | 15:55 | 8 h 26 min |
| Rome | 7:34 | 16:42 | 9 h 07 min |
| Madrid | 8:34 | 17:51 | 9 h 17 min |
| Lisbon | 7:51 | 17:18 | 9 h 27 min |
| Athens | 7:37 | 17:09 | 9 h 31 min |
| Africa | |||
| City | Sunrise 22 Dec 2015 |
Sunset 22 Dec 2015 |
Length of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cairo | 6:47 | 16:59 | 10 h 12 min |
| Tenerife | 7:53 | 18:13 | 10 h 19 min |
| Dakar | 7:30 | 18:46 | 11 h 15 min |
| Addis Ababa | 6:35 | 18:11 | 11 h 36 min |
| Nairobi | 6:25 | 18:37 | 12 h 11 min |
| Kinshasa | 5:45 | 18:08 | 12 h 22 min |
| Dar es Salaam | 6:05 | 18:36 | 12 h 31 min |
| Luanda | 5:46 | 18:24 | 12 h 38 min |
| Antananarivo | 5:10 | 18:26 | 13 h 16 min |
| Windhoek | 6:04 | 19:35 | 13 h 31 min |
| Johannesburg | 5:12 | 18:59 | 13 h 47 min |
| Cape Town | 5:32 | 19:57 | 14 h 25 min |
| Americas | |||
| City | Sunrise 22 Dec 2015 |
Sunset 22 Dec 2015 |
Length of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inuvik | — | — | 0 h |
| Fairbanks | 10:58 | 14:40 | 3 h 41 min |
| Nuuk | 10:22 | 14:28 | 4 h 06 min |
| Anchorage | 10:14 | 15:42 | 5 h 27 min |
| Edmonton | 8:48 | 16:15 | 7 h 27 min |
| Vancouver | 8:05 | 16:16 | 8 h 11 min |
| Seattle | 7:55 | 16:20 | 8 h 25 min |
| Ottawa | 7:39 | 16:22 | 8 h 42 min |
| Toronto | 7:48 | 16:43 | 8 h 55 min |
| New York City | 7:16 | 16:32 | 9 h 15 min |
| Washington, D.C. | 7:23 | 16:49 | 9 h 26 min |
| Los Angeles | 6:55 | 16:48 | 9 h 53 min |
| Dallas | 7:25 | 17:25 | 9 h 59 min |
| Miami | 7:03 | 17:35 | 10 h 31 min |
| Honolulu | 7:04 | 17:55 | 10 h 50 min |
| Mexico City | 7:06 | 18:03 | 10 h 57 min |
| Managua | 6:01 | 17:26 | 11 h 24 min |
| Bogotá | 5:59 | 17:50 | 11 h 51 min |
| Quito | 6:08 | 18:16 | 12 h 08 min |
| Recife | 5:00 | 17:35 | 12 h 35 min |
| Lima | 5:41 | 18:31 | 12 h 50 min |
| La Paz | 5:57 | 19:04 | 13 h 06 min |
| Rio de Janeiro | 6:04 | 19:37 | 13 h 33 min |
| São Paulo | 6:17 | 19:52 | 13 h 35 min |
| Porto Alegre | 6:20 | 20:25 | 14 h 05 min |
| Santiago | 6:29 | 20:52 | 14 h 22 min |
| Buenos Aires | 5:37 | 20:06 | 14 h 28 min |
| Ushuaia | 4:51 | 22:11 | 17 h 19 min |
| Asia and Oceania | |||
| City | Sunrise 22 Dec 2015 |
Sunset 22 Dec 2015 |
Length of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magadan | 8:54 | 14:55 | 6 h 00 min |
| Petropavlovsk | 9:36 | 17:10 | 7 h 33 min |
| Khabarovsk | 8:48 | 17:07 | 8 h 18 min |
| Ulaanbaatar | 8:39 | 17:02 | 8 h 22 min |
| Vladivostok | 8:40 | 17:40 | 8 h 59 min |
| Beijing | 7:32 | 16:52 | 9 h 20 min |
| Seoul | 7:44 | 17:17 | 9 h 34 min |
| Tokyo | 6:47 | 16:31 | 9 h 44 min |
| Shanghai | 6:48 | 16:55 | 10 h 07 min |
| Lhasa | 8:46 | 19:01 | 10 h 14 min |
| Delhi | 7:09 | 17:28 | 10 h 19 min |
| Hong Kong | 6:58 | 17:44 | 10 h 46 min |
| Manila | 6:16 | 17:32 | 11 h 15 min |
| Bangkok | 6:36 | 17:55 | 11 h 19 min |
| Singapore | 7:01 | 19:04 | 12 h 03 min |
| Jakarta | 5:36 | 18:05 | 12 h 28 min |
| Denpasar | 5:58 | 18:36 | 12 h 37 min |
| Darwin | 6:19 | 19:10 | 12 h 51 min |
| Papeete | 5:21 | 18:32 | 13 h 10 min |
| Brisbane | 4:49 | 18:42 | 13 h 52 min |
| Perth | 5:07 | 19:22 | 14 h 14 min |
| Sydney | 5:41 | 20:05 | 14 h 24 min |
| Auckland | 5:58 | 20:39 | 14 h 41 min |
| Melbourne | 5:54 | 20:42 | 14 h 47 min |
| Invercargill | 5:50 | 21:39 | 15 h 48 min |
References
- United States Naval Observatory (4 January 2018). "Earth's Seasons and Apsides: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion". Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- "Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100". AstroPixels.com. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- Bromberg, Irv. "Solar Year Length Variations on Earth" (PDF). University of Toronto, Canada. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
- "Paikallissää Helsinki" [‘Local weather in Helsinki’] (in Finnish). Finnish Meteorological Institute. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- "Perth, Australia". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- "São Paulo, Brazil". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- "Denpasar, Indonesia". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- "Edmonton, Canada". Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- "Inuvik, Canada". Retrieved 19 December 2020.