Complex Numbers

Seasoning

Winter solstice today.

Well... it's the winter solstice for the only hemisphere that matters (the northern one); summer in that... lesser hemisphere.

And also well... it's today for me, but tomorrow for, say, Europeans.

This is because, while the solstice occurs at the same moment worldwide, the time depends on what time zone you're in. It's 10:27pm on the 21st, here in Eastern time (WDC time), but 3:27am on the 22nd based on Universal Time (e.g., England).

I've seen some sources claim 3:28am UT / 10:28pm EST. I don't know why there's a one-minute discrepancy there. I'm not sure it matters. Probably some differences in how to round numbers up or down, I'd guess. We're still calculating it with greater accuracy than, say, Stonehenge ever did.

This sort of thing can be confusing, I know. Time zone differences trip me up pretty easily.

Want to be confused more? Great! That's my specialty!

We usually think of the winter solstice as the first day of winter. Okay, that's fair; by the astronomical definition, winter stretches from the winter solstice to the spring equinox (this is true regardless of hemisphere, but for... the unfortunate upside-down people... the winter solstice is in June). But there are other definitions of winter.

Meteorological winter, in contrast, is tied to the Gregorian calendar: December 1 through February 28 (or 29 if it exists) in the northern hemisphere. This roughly centers meteorological winter on what is, on average, usually the coldest period of the year: mid-January. Yes, the average low lags the astronomical season, usually by about a month. Similarly, July here is generally hotter than June.

And then there's solar winter, which is related to but not the same thing as astronomical winter. (I told you this would be confusing.) This definition of winter is largely based on length of daylight, and stretches from around Halloween to Groundhog Day.

Those holidays are not coincidences, either; they derived from much earlier celebrations of the beginning and end of solar winter. This is why you sometimes hear the winter solstice referred to as "midwinter." And the summer solstice has been called "midsummer," as in Shakespeare's play. There are similar days around May 1 and August 1 that mark the solar season transitions or, by the astronomical definition, the middle of each season. (Look. I already said it's confusing. Just roll with it.)

The upshot of all of this is that, while the worst of winter is surely still ahead of us—personally, I dread February the most, but January objectively sucks worse—at least we'll be getting more daylight. The downside of that: more of the accursed daystar every day. Yes, I have a complicated relationship with the sun. I appreciate the warmth, but I do wish it'd stop burning me and glaring at me like I did something wrong.

This, for me, ends the winter holiday season. (As I've noted before, axial tilt is the true reason for the season.) At least until New Year's, which I only acknowledge because it's International Drinking Night.