SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The year’s shortest day and longest night has come and passed. Dec. 21, 2024, was the winter solstice and marked the official start to winter. It also signifies the beginning of a little more sunshine every day for the new year.
Just before the holidays, the winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year, and marks the official changing of the seasons from fall to winter. After the winter solstice, we also start to see a little more sunshine every day until the peak during the summer solstice which falls on June 20 in 2025.
This means starting Sunday, there will be more sunshine to enjoy here in San Diego as the days start getting longer and the sun gets higher in the sky.
But because of the Earth’s tilt, we saw our darkest afternoon on Dec. 7 and won’t see the latest sunrise until the first week of January, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
The amount of additional sunlight starting Sunday will only be minor at first, just a few seconds a day, but will grow to 3 minutes per day in March.
Here in San Diego, you can expect 10 hours and 3 minutes of sun on Christmas Day, with sunrise at 6:47 a.m. and sunset at 4:50 p.m.
A month later, by January 25, you can expect 10 hours and 30 minutes of sunlight with sunset taking place at 5:16 p.m.
Looking ahead to the summer solstice, there will be 14 hours and 21 minutes of sunshine on June 20, 2025, in San Diego.
During the spring and autumnal equinoxes, day and night both last around 12 hours. So now you can look forward to more warm San Diego sunshine every day as we count down to longer days.
