News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Wednesday will be the shortest day of the year as the season officially transitions to winter.
Tennessee Tech Physics Department Chair Steve Robinson said the Northern Hemisphere is at its furthest point away from the sun making for a short number of daylight hours.
“In our sky the sun seems to move up and down over the course of the year, so when it is summer for us the sun is much higher in the sky than in the winter,” Robinson said. “On the winter solstice, it is at the lowest point it ever is in the year.”
Robinson said the winter solstice officially takes place at approximately at 3:47 p.m. Robinson said the coldest days of the year usually happen after Wednesday.
“The seasons that we go by there is a little bit of a time lag compared to how we think about the sun moving in the sky,” Robinson said. “The whole of the time since the summer until now the sun has been getting lower and lower in the sky, which means its heating effect on our part of the earth has been less and less.”
Robinson said after that, the sun will start to climb higher into the sky. Robinson said days will grow longer and longer while the heating effect will take a while to kick in.
Robinson said throughout history, the winter solstice has been a celebration for societies. Robinson said it represents a rebirth for agriculture and hunting as daylight increases.
