(CBS DETROIT) — The Winter solstice is coming this weekend and with it the winter season. The winter solstice is our second solstice of the year and marks the shortest day, while the summer solstice marks the longest.

This is different from the equinox, of which there are two (the vernal equinox in spring and the autumnal equinox in fall), in which the day is evenly divided between daylight and night.

The solstice is at 4:20 a.m. Saturday, giving us a nearly full day of winter to start off. Sunrise is at 7:58 a.m. and solar noon shortly thereafter at 12:30 p.m

Sunset arrives at 5:02 p.m., giving us a very short Saturday this weekend.

On December 20th and 21st, daylight length is 9 hours, 4 minutes and 46 seconds, respectively. However, there is actually a daylight difference of less than 1 second on the 21st compared to the 20th.

Despite these numbers, our latest sunrise and earliest sunset do not occur on the winter solstice. Our latest sunrise is 8:01 a.m. and occurs every day from December 30th to January 7th.

Our earliest sunset is 4:59 p.m. and occurs December 4th – 13th.

In contrast, our earliest sunrise is at 5:54 a.m., occurring June 13-16, while the latest sunset occurs at 9:13 p.m., June 25-28.

No matter what, winter is here, and we’ve already done it had A few tastes from snow. As we enter the winter months, it’s a good idea to have those shovels handy.