Today is the shortest day of the year in Cyprus with sunrise at around 7am and sunset around 4.30pm. That’s a total of nine and a half sunshine hours.
The December solstice is on either December 20, 21, 22 or 23. It is called Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year.
The Sun’s position
The Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere during the December Solstice.
The December Solstice occurs when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, when the North Pole is tilted furthest – 23.5 degrees – away from the Sun.
Being the longest day of the year, also means that people in the areas south of the Antarctic Circle towards the South Pole will see the Midnight Sun, i.e. have 24 hours of daylight, during this time of the year.
For people in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the exact opposite, the day of the year with fewest hours of daylight. North of the Arctic Circle towards the North Pole there is no daylight at all during this time of the year.
Local times for December Solstice 2014 worldwide
