(12-13-25) It has already been a long winter…cold and snow started in November and it seems to want to keep on going in December.

So a little good news arrives in a few short days. The addition of more sunlight …earlier sunrises and later sunsets. To many that is a positive start as we wait for warmer temperatures.

In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours reach their minimum on the winter solstice, and added sunlight (longer days) begins immediately afterward.

The winter solstice in 2025 occurs on Sunday, December 21, at approximately 10:03 a.m. EST (15:03 UTC). This marks the shortest day of the year.

Starting on December 22, 2025, days begin to lengthen gradually. The increase starts very small — just seconds per day at first — but accelerates over time (reaching about 2-3 minutes of added daylight per day by late January or February, depending on your latitude).

• Sunsets start getting later almost immediately after the solstice.

• Sunrises continue getting later until early January (due to the equation of time and Earth’s orbital eccentricity), but the overall daylight duration still increases from December 22 onward.

This applies across the Northern Hemisphere; the exact amount of added sunlight varies by location (more noticeable at higher latitudes). If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite occurs — December 21 is your longest day.

In Ohio (using Columbus as a representative central location at ~40°N latitude), the winter solstice on December 21, 2025, marks the shortest day with approximately 9 hours and 23 minutes of daylight.

After December 21, the total daylight duration begins to increase gradually. The added sunlight starts very small but grows over time. Here’s how the daily gain in daylight typically progresses in Ohio during the winter months:

• Late December (right after solstice): Gain of just a few seconds to about 30 seconds per day.

• Early to mid-January: Increases to around 1 minute per day.

• Late January: About 1.5–2 minutes per day.

• February: Around 2–2.5 minutes per day.

• March: Peaks at roughly 2.5–3 minutes per day before slowing again toward the equinox.

Due to the “equation of time”:

• Sunsets start getting later immediately after the solstice (you’ll notice evenings brightening first, with added light mostly in the afternoon/evening).

• Sunrises continue getting later until around January 4–5 (latest sunrise typically ~7:58–7:59 a.m. in Columbus area).

• From early January onward, both sunrises start earlier and sunsets later, accelerating the overall daily gain.

This pattern is consistent across Ohio (slight variations north vs. south, e.g., Cleveland has a marginally shorter solstice day than Cincinnati). The total gain from solstice to the spring equinox (March 20, 2026) is about 3 hours of added daylight, reaching ~12 hours by then.

For exact times in your specific Ohio city, check sites like timeanddate.com or the Old Farmer’s Almanac sunrise/sunset calculator.

AI assisted in this story….