Winter solstice 2026: when is the shortest day of the year?

The winter solstice of 2026 is on Monday 21 December at 20:50 UTC: 3:50 p.m. in New York and 12:50 p.m. in Los Angeles, according to the US Naval Observatory. (UTC is the reference time used worldwide, the same as London's winter time.) At that moment the Sun stands above the Tropic of Capricorn, as far south as it ever gets. In all eight northern cities we calculated, in North America and Europe, 21 December 2026 has the least daylight of the year, and the nights around it are the longest. The local date can differ elsewhere, and in the far north the Sun does not rise at all around the solstice. In Australia and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere this is the summer solstice, with the longest days; their winter solstice was on 21 June 2026.

When is the winter solstice in 2026?

A solstice is not a whole day but one exact moment. The US Naval Observatory (USNO) gives 21 December 2026 at 20:50 UTC for the December solstice; our own calculation with Astronomy Engine lands within a minute of that. Because it is one moment, the local date depends on your time zone: it is still 21 December everywhere in the Americas, but already 22 December in Sydney (7:50 a.m.).

The date also moves a little from year to year. A year is about 365¼ days long, so the solstice comes about 6 hours later each year, and February's extra day in a leap year pulls it earlier again. In UTC it always falls on 21 or 22 December between 2024 and 2032, in USNO's table:

So the solstice is not always on 21 or 22 December where you live: in Hawaii it fell on 20 December in 2024 and does so again in 2028 and 2032, and in Los Angeles in 2032.

What is the winter solstice, and why is it the shortest day?

Earth spins around an axis that is tilted, and that tilt causes the seasons. NASA explains that "As Earth orbits the Sun, its tilted axis always points in the same direction." For half the year the North Pole leans toward the Sun, for the other half away from it.

The solstices are the two moments when that lean is strongest. According to NASA, "The winter solstice occurs when Earth's tilt away from the Sun is at a maximum and the Sun is directly over The Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5° latitude South." In our calculation the Sun stands overhead at 23.44° south at the moment of the 2026 solstice. For the north that means the Sun climbs only a little way at midday and takes a short path across the sky, so it is up for fewer hours. "During the winter solstice, the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky and marks the shortest day of the year," NASA says. South of the equator it is the other way round: the longest day of the year.

The photos above, from NASA's EPIC camera, show it from space: in June the Arctic leans toward the Sun, in December Antarctica does. The animation below shows a whole year: the orbit seen from above on the left, and a schematic side view of Earth with the Sun to the left on the right. Earth's tilt itself stays about 23.4° all year; the side view shows how far the North Pole leans toward or away from the Sun, which is greatest at the solstices.

What does solstice mean? The word comes from the Latin *sōlstitium*, from *sōl* (sun) and *sistere*, "to make stand", according to Dictionary.com. Around the solstice, the Sun's midday height barely changes from one day to the next, so its yearly path north and south seems to stand still before it turns back.

How long is the shortest day of the year?

That depends on how far you are from the equator. On 21 December 2026, from sunrise to sunset (local standard time; Sydney in summer time):

We calculated these times for each city centre at sea level with Astronomy Engine, using the top of the Sun and normal bending of light by the air, the same rule the US Naval Observatory uses; USNO's own times for 21 December agree to the minute. Times, day lengths and gains are each rounded from unrounded calculations, so a sunset minus a sunrise, or the difference between two day lengths, can differ by a minute from the value shown. In New York the night from sunset on 21 December to sunrise on 22 December lasts 14 h 45 min, the longest of the winter there, though the night before is less than a second shorter and the night after only about 3 seconds shorter.

Farther north, the Sun does not rise at all. In Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow), the Sun sets on 18 November 2026 at 1:42 p.m. and does not rise again until 23 January 2027 at 1:03 p.m., in our calculation and USNO's data: 65 days in a row without a sunrise. It is not completely dark there at midday: on 21 December USNO lists about three hours of civil twilight, the brighter part of twilight when the Sun is just below the horizon.

The animation below shows how daylight changes through a whole year in five cities.

Is December 21 really the shortest day? Earliest sunset and latest winter sunrise

In all eight northern cities we calculated, in North America and Europe, 21 December is the day with the least daylight in 2026. The local date can differ elsewhere (in East Asia the solstice moment already falls on 22 December), and in the far north there is no daylight at all. But it is a close race. 22 December is only one to seven seconds longer in our calculation, depending on the city, so the days around the solstice feel the same.

What surprises many people is that the earliest sunset and the latest winter sunrise do not fall on the shortest day. In New York the earliest sunset is on 8 December (4:28 p.m.) and the latest winter sunrise on 4 January (7:20 a.m.). We searched from 1 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, when US and UK clocks are on standard time; before the clocks go back on 1 November, New York's sunrise is even later on the clock: about 7:25 a.m. EDT on 31 October.

The reason is that midday by the Sun moves through the year. NOAA calls this the equation of time: "changes in the time of solar noon for a given location over the course of a year". In New York, solar noon, when the Sun is highest, moves from 11:45 a.m. on 1 December to 11:54 a.m. on 21 December and 12:04 p.m. on 10 January, in our calculation. The whole day of sunlight slides later on the clock, so in early December the evenings already stop getting darker, while the mornings keep getting darker until January.

How much daylight do you gain after the winter solstice?

Very little at first, then more each week. Daylight compared with 21 December 2026:

By New Year's Eve New York has about 3 min more daylight than on the solstice, and by the end of January about 50 min more. Places farther north gain faster: Anchorage gets almost 7 hours back by the March equinox.

Day and night are not exactly equal on the equinox. Sunrise and sunset count the moment the top of the Sun touches the horizon, and the air bends sunlight a little, so on the equinox the day is already a few minutes longer than 12 hours; the National Weather Service gives about 12 hours and 8 minutes at 30 degrees latitude. In New York, daylight is closest to 12 hours on 17 March 2027 (12 h 00 min), a few days before the March equinox on 20 March, in our calculation.

How high is the Sun at noon on the winter solstice?

Lower than on any other day of the year in the north. In New York the Sun reaches only 26° above the southern horizon at midday on 21 December 2026, against 73° on 21 June, in our calculation (the pictures above are Stellarium views of exactly those moments):

A low Sun casts long shadows. NASA Goddard's "The Sky Above Us" explains that "The noontime Sun in winter is low in the sky", so "Any beam of sunlight then spreads out along a greater distance on the ground, diluting the heat given to any area." In Sydney the midday Sun stands about 80° high in December, close to overhead. Never look straight at the Sun: it can damage your eyes.

What to see in the sky on the longest night of 2026

A long night is a good night for stargazing, though in 2026 the Moon is bright. On the evening of 21 December 2026 in New York, at 6:30 p.m. EST:

• The Moon, 93% lit, stands high in the east among the stars of Taurus. It is full on 23 December at 8:28 p.m. EST (the Cold Moon, see our full moon calendar).
• Saturn is about halfway up in the south, in Pisces, and sets around half past midnight. See how many moons Saturn has.
• Jupiter rises in the east-northeast around 9:00 p.m.

Two meteor showers come around the solstice. The Geminids peak on 14 December 2026 (see our Geminids guide), and the small Ursid shower peaks on 22 December at 22:00 UT according to the International Meteor Organization, but the nearly full Moon will hide most of its meteors (see our meteor shower calendar). For what is up on any other night, see tonight's sky.

Winter solstice FAQ

Is December 21 the shortest day of the year? In 2026, yes, in all eight northern cities we calculated in North America and Europe, but only by seconds over 22 December. The local date can differ elsewhere: in East Asia the solstice moment already falls on 22 December local time. In other years the solstice can fall on 22 December (in UTC) or even 20 December (in Hawaii), and the shortest day moves with it.

Is the winter solstice the same every year? No. It comes about 6 hours later each year and moves earlier again in a leap year, after February's extra day, so it switches between 20, 21 and 22 December depending on the year and your time zone (see the table above).

Is the winter solstice the first day of winter? For astronomers, yes: winter in the north starts at the December solstice. Weather scientists use whole months instead. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information explains that the meteorological seasons "are based on the annual temperature cycle", and that "meteorological winter includes December, January, and February."

Is the winter solstice the coldest day? Usually not. The coldest weeks come later, because ground and water keep losing heat for a while. NOAA's National Weather Service describes the same delay in summer: the warmest part of summer comes after the longest day. That temperature cycle is why weather scientists count winter as December, January and February.

What is the longest day of 2026? The longest days in the Northern Hemisphere come around the June solstice, on 21 June 2026 at 08:24 UTC (USNO). New York had 15 h 06 min of daylight that day, London 16 h 38 min, in our calculation. South of the equator that was the winter solstice: Sydney had only 9 h 54 min. There the longest day comes around the December solstice: in Sydney 22 December 2026, one second longer than 21 December.

How many minutes of daylight do you gain after December 21? Only seconds in the first days. New York gains about 3 min by 31 December and about 50 min by 31 January 2027; see the table above for other cities.

How many minutes of daylight do we lose after June 21? In New York, 3 min by 30 June 2026 and 45 min by 31 July, in our calculation.

What day has 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness? Not the equinox itself. At places like New York, daylight comes closest to 12 hours a few days before the March equinox and a few days after the September equinox; the date depends on where you are, and a day of exactly 12 hours may not happen at all. In New York the September equinox was on 22 September 2026 at 8:05 p.m. EDT, and daylight was 12 h 01 min on 25 September and 11 h 59 min on 26 September. In spring 2027 it is 12 h 00 min on 17 March, in our calculation.

How long is the shortest day of the year in America? It ranges from 10 h 50 min in Honolulu and 10 h 32 min in Miami to 8 h 26 min in Seattle and 5 h 27 min in Anchorage; in Utqiagvik, Alaska, the Sun does not rise at all.

Is Earth closest to the Sun in winter? In northern winter, yes: Earth's closest point to the Sun in 2027 is on 3 January at 02:07 UTC, in the calculation for our Sun distance article. The distance is not what causes the seasons; see how far the Sun is from Earth.

How we checked

The solstice and equinox times come from the US Naval Observatory's Earth's Seasons data for 2024 to 2032, which we checked with Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 (all within about a minute). Sunrise, sunset and day length for every day from 1 June 2026 to 30 June 2027 are our calculation with Astronomy Engine for each city centre at sea level, using the top edge of the Sun and standard atmospheric refraction. The midday heights in the table are geometric heights of the Sun's centre, without the small lift from refraction; the Stellarium views show the apparent height (25.88° in New York on 21 December against 25.85° geometric; both round to 26°). We checked the 21 December 2026 times for all nine cities, New York's earliest sunset and latest winter sunrise and Utqiagvik's last and first sunrise against the US Naval Observatory's one-day data; all agree to the minute. Local times use each city's time zone, including daylight saving time where it applies (Sydney uses it in December; Honolulu never does).

The explanation of the solstice comes from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA Space Place and NASA Goddard's "The Sky Above Us" (David P. Stern), the Tropic of Capricorn and the temperature delay from NOAA's National Weather Service, the meteorological seasons from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, the equation of time from NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory and the word origin from Dictionary.com. The sky views were rendered with Stellarium 26.3, and we checked the positions of the Sun, Moon and Saturn against Astronomy Engine. The Cold Moon time and the meteor shower peaks come from our full moon and meteor shower calendars.

The Earth photos are from NASA's EPIC camera and the NOAA/NASA GOES Project; NASA says its images are generally not subject to copyright in the United States, and we credit each one. The animations, charts and diagram are our own, made from these numbers. None of the images or videos is AI-generated.