Find out exactly how long until winter begins where you are. Enter your hemisphere and the current year, and get back the days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining until the winter solstice. Whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, your personalized countdown updates to reflect the correct start date for your season.
Days Until Winter
--
Hours Remaining
--
Minutes Remaining
--
Winter Starts On
--
Weeks Remaining
--
Astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere begins at the December solstice, typically around December 21–22 each year. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter starts at the June solstice, usually around June 20–21. Meteorological winter is defined as December 1 (Northern) or June 1 (Southern).
Astronomical winter begins at the winter solstice — the moment the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky — and is determined by Earth's position relative to the sun. Meteorological winter is defined by climatologists as the three coldest calendar months (December, January, February in the Northern Hemisphere), always starting on December 1 for consistency in weather records.
Not exactly. The astronomical winter solstice shifts by a day or two each year depending on Earth's orbit and leap year cycles. It typically falls between December 20 and December 23 in the Northern Hemisphere. Meteorological winter always starts on December 1, making it more predictable.
In the Southern Hemisphere, winter begins at the June solstice, which falls around June 20–21 each year. Meteorological winter there runs from June 1 through August 31, covering the coldest months of the Southern Hemisphere calendar.
Astronomical winter lasts approximately 89 days in the Northern Hemisphere — from the December solstice to the March equinox. Meteorological winter lasts exactly 90 days (or 91 in a leap year), spanning December, January, and February.
The winter solstice is the day when the sun is at its lowest maximum elevation in the sky, resulting in the shortest day and longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere this occurs in December, and in the Southern Hemisphere in June. It marks the official start of astronomical winter.
The word solstice comes from the Latin 'solstitium,' meaning 'sun stands still.' Around the solstice, the sun's path in the sky appears to pause before reversing direction. This moment has been observed and celebrated by cultures around the world for thousands of years.
No — the winter solstice is the shortest day but not usually the coldest. The coldest temperatures typically occur weeks after the solstice due to 'seasonal lag,' where the earth and oceans continue losing heat even as daylight begins to increase. The coldest days in the Northern Hemisphere are usually in January or February.