Winter solstice 2024: When is it and what to know

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The sun rises behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center on the winter solstice in New York City on December 21, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

The first day of winter is fast approaching. 

For people who live in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice marks the beginning of astronomical winter and the shortest day of the year. 

When is the winter solstice in 2024? 

The first day of winter falls on Dec. 21, according to EarthSky.org. 

The Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice always falls on December 21 or 22. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is on June 20 or 21.

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Winter solstice is the start of astronomical winter, but meteorological winter begins three weeks earlier on Dec. 1. Meteorologists label winter as December through the end of February – the three coldest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. 

What is the winter solstice? 

The winter solstice marks the start of each hemisphere’s winter season.

Earth’s axis is tilted by 23.5 degrees which causes one half of the planet to be pointed away from the sun and the other half is pointed towards it at the time of the solstice. 

That’s why the other half of Earth experiences summer while we experience winter.

"Through the year, this tilt causes Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres to trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. It’s this tilt, not our distance from the sun, that causes winter and summer," according to EarthSky.

Winter solstice celebrations

The darkest day of the year has been celebrated possibly as early as the Stone Age, according to History.com. Neolithic monuments in Scotland and Ireland, built around 3,000 B.C., are aligned with sunrise on the winter solstice.

Stonehenge, one of the world’s best-known prehistoric monuments located in Wiltshire, England, is oriented toward the winter solstice sunset — which may have been a place of December rituals for Stone Age people, History.com says.