Although meteorological winter began last week at the beginning of December, the Northern Hemisphere will remain in astronomical autumn for a little longer.

Astronomical seasons are determined by the Earth’s position in its orbit around the Sun, with the winter solstice marking the astronomical start of winter.

So when is the winter solstice? When is the shortest day of the year? When will we see more daylight? Here you can find out everything you need to know about the changing of the seasons.

When is the winter solstice?

The winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the North Pole is tilted maximally away from the sun. This gives the hemisphere the fewest hours of sunshine on any given day and coincides with the coldest weather the hemisphere will experience.

According to the National Weather Service, the winter solstice this year will officially occur on Saturday, December 21st at 3:21 a.m. Central Standard Time.

When is the shortest day of the year?

According to TimeandDate.com, Chicago’s earliest sunsets of the year actually begin on Monday, when the sun dips below the horizon around 4:19 p.m

This trend will continue for nearly two weeks, according to the website, with sunset moving to 4:20 p.m. on December 14th.

Although the time of sunset remains approximately unchanged, the time of sunrise shifts further into the later morning, reducing the amount of daylight the area receives by about one minute per day.

As we approach the middle of the month, the reduction in daylight becomes less and less until the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on December 21st.

In Chicago we will see approximately nine hours, seven minutes and 44 seconds of daylight that day.

When will the days get longer?

Chicago will slowly get brighter the day after the winter solstice, but it will be hard to notice at first. In fact, according to TimeandDate.com, the city will have gained just under four minutes of daylight over the last ten days of the year, with sunset occurring just before 4:30 p.m

Chicago will still be getting brighter each day around New Year’s Day, but sunrise will occur at the latest point of the year, with the sun rising at around 7:18 a.m. each day.

By the end of January, Chicago will gain two minutes of daylight per day, and sunset will occur after 5 p.m. for the first time since the end of daylight saving time on November 3rd.

January 30 will also be the date when Chicago eclipses 10 hours of daylight, with increasing increases as the winter progresses.