Winter Solstice Wednesday Morning

There is so much to look forward to and celebrate in December. In addition to the special religious holidays and the farewell to the past year, one day that connects us all is the December solstice. I look forward to this day, not because it signals the official beginning to winter in the northern hemisphere, but because it marks the shortest day of the year and the gradual transition to spring, in hopefully what will seem like just a few short weeks.

Although, seasonal effective disorder is a medically established condition that can effect almost ten percent of the population in New Hampshire(1), I think that most of us can attest to being impacted by long stretches of overcast skies and winters that never seem to end - think of Stephen King's The Shining. It is the winter solstice that gives me hope because it begins the gradual transition toward longer and warmer days. Of course, for those south of the equator, the day marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer. This year the December solstice arrives December 21st at 10:44 in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). You can check the time in your city at https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html.

It is the time of the sunset that I seem to notice more than the sunrise and I am happy to report that last Thursday, December 15th, the sunset was its earliest at 4:11 PM. This evening, it will already be two minutes later! However, the morning sun will continue to rise later by four minutes until January 10th at which point the sun won't be setting until 4:30 PM. This is definitely cause for celebration! The picture below was taken last December as the sun was nearing the horizon. The picture would look quite different this year as we've already received over a foot of snow. But snow or not winter will arrive this Wednesday, a factor of the earth's tilt and rotation around the sun.

I thank the Creator for the changing seasons

(1) Psychiatry (Edgemont), Jan., 2005, Katherine A. Roecklein and Kelly J. Rhoan, Seasonal Effective Disorder An Overview and Update.