The darkest time of the year is soon behind us. After the winter solstice on Saturday, the days will get longer again. But how much sunlight you actually get depends not only on the weather, but also where you live.
December 21st is the winter solstice. It is considered the shortest day of the year because, from a European perspective, the sun appears in the sky for a particularly short time. After this date, the days will get longer again until the next summer solstice. However, how much time passes between sunrise and sunset depends largely on the region in which you live.
“In summer, our Northern Lights live on the sunny side, so to speak, with long, bright nights. But in winter it looks exactly the other way around,” summarizes ntv meteorologist Paul Heger briefly. Because during the “dark season” people in the south of Germany get more daylight, while in the north the sun rises later and hides behind the horizon earlier. This means the days are shorter in the north.
Within Germany, this can make a difference of around an hour, as an analysis by ntv.de shows. South of Munich, for example, the sun rises at 8 a.m. on December 21st this year and sets at around 4:25 p.m. So there are almost eight and a half hours in between. In the Kiel area, however, the day of the winter solstice does not begin until 8:34 a.m. It's over again just before four o'clock in the afternoon. With just 7 hours and 23 minutes, the locals here have significantly “less of the day”.
However, how much daylight the residents of a region actually get depends heavily on the weather. Lake Constance, at the southernmost tip of Germany, is conveniently located in terms of the astronomical day length in winter. “But here you also like to hang out in the constant gray of high fog, especially in the first half of winter,” says Heger. “In addition to the position of the sun, the weather also largely determines how much sunlight we get.”
One degree further: nine minutes advantage
It is interesting that the differences in day length from south to north are increasing. Along the geographical line that runs north of Stuttgart, around 6 minutes and 39 seconds less time passes between sunrise and sunset than, for example, for people who live near Munich. In central Germany – between Münster and the latitude below Leipzig – the difference increases to 7 minutes and 50 seconds. Hamburg and Kiel are already experiencing a whopping nine minute difference. The north-south coordinates of these two cities are only just one degree apart.
But before anyone thinks about moving from the north to the southern regions of Germany to avoid the dark winter: the signs are reversed as early as spring. Then it gets light more quickly from the north and the day length increases. Together with an extended twilight phase, the north of Germany in particular will benefit from more sunshine, while in the south it will remain wintery and dark for a little longer.
Note: If you want to find out more about why it stays dark longer in the north in winter and gets light faster in spring, we recommend this text from ntv.de.
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