The tilt of the Earth - not our distance from the sun - is what causes winter and summer. During the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted at its farthest distance from the sun, bringing less light and colder temperatures. If you can’t wait for ice skating on frozen ponds, catching snowflakes as they fall through the air, and steaming mugs of hot chocolate, mark your calendar: The first day of winter in the 2021-2022 season, also known as the winter solstice, is Tuesday, December 21.
The 23.5-degree tilt in Earth's axis of rotation creates a rise and fall appearance of the sun over the course of a year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it's the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. In 2021, Rosh Hashanah begins September 6 and leads to Yom Kippur (starts the evening of September 15 in 2021), or the Day of Atonement. 21, marking the official start of the astronomical winter and the shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. Two-column chart of key dates during the four quarters of the 2021-22 academic year, beginning with fall quarter 2021. Because of that, it tends to be near the first day of fall. The 2021 winter solstice occurred at 10:59 a.m. This covers December, January and February.
That’s right, the term meteorological winter is defined by the coldest three months of the year. The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year in terms of hours of daylight. Winter officially begins this Wednesday, Dec.