This Saturday, December 21, marks the end of fall, but it also marks the winter solstice. A solstice which marks the apogee of the night and the beginning of the lengthening of the days.
So it’s the end of autumn this Saturday, December 21. So we are returning to winter. But it is also the winter solstice which will mark this Saturday. The date is not always set at December 21 because of leap years, in fact last year it was December 22.
The winter solstice marks the time when the sun's rays shine the least on us. This moment will arrive at 9 a.m., 20 minutes and 30 seconds in Paris this Saturday. The opposite will happen in the southern hemisphere where it will be the summer solstice.
An 8 hour day in Paris, 2 hours 15 minutes in Lapland
This Saturday will mark the shortest day of the year, lasting 8 hours and 14 minutes in Paris and just over 9 hours in Corsica, in Ajaccio. The night will last 3:46 p.m. According to The Weather Channelin Rovaniemi, a Finnish town known as Santa Claus' village in Lapland, will see a duration of sunshine of only 2 hours 15 minutes this Saturday.
Then, from December 27, the days will begin to lengthen, reaching the equinox. Expected around March 20, this will be the time when night and day will be of equal length, marking the start of spring. As for temperatures, they will take longer to rise due to the phenomenon of atmospheric inertia. The winter peak is expected to be reached in mid-January.
