Winter solstice Wikipedia

October 27, 2025

In the winter season the sun it not active, as usual, temperatures are low and days are really cold. Seasonal lag means that the coldest period normally follows the solstice by a few weeks. Diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °C (−40 °F) due to air with slightly higher moisture from above mixing with colder, mystake casino surface-based air.
Winter season is really amazing and has some special atmosphere, that everyone cold feel. During this days, people wear special clothes, use fruits and vegetables as decorations for their homes and also light special candles. (Kwanzaa festival with Ron Karenga, he is the creator of the pan-African and African American holiday Kwanzaa) People celebrate this holiday with families, giving gifts to each other, going to church, singing special songs and having an amazing time with magical atmosphere in the air! Now we are going to tell you about the best and interesting summer tradition in the world! Coming of Winter to every country and town is a significant event, that is way there are a lot of celebrations and holidays, regarding to greet this amazing time of the year.
The polar vortex isn’t a storm—it’s a large swirling pool of very cold Arctic air that usually stays near the North Pole in winter. If the polar vortex shifts south, it could send colder-than-average air from Canada farther into the United States. Last winter’s La Niña faded to neutral conditions, and El Niño returned during the summer. Warmer and drier conditions are expected in the High Plains, along with below-normal snowfall. Expect colder temperatures in the Ohio Valley, with a wetter eastern area and a number of snowy periods throughout the season. Winter will be tough in the Appalachians, with colder and snowier conditions, especially in the north.

Exceptionally cold

When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa.
In the same century, Ovid wrote in the Fasti that the winter solstice is the first day of the “new Sun”.
In AD 274, the emperor Aurelian made this the date of the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of Sol Invictus or the ‘Invincible Sun’.
While much of the country is headed for a milder season, some areas will still see plenty of cold and snow.
Diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °C (−40 °F) due to air with slightly higher moisture from above mixing with colder, surface-based air.
Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three calendar months with the lowest average temperatures.
From the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun.

This led some scholars to believe that Scandinavian Yule (Jól) originally was a sun festival on the winter solstice. The Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson, describes a Jól feast hosted by the Norwegian king Haakon the Good (c. 920–961). Philipp E. Nothaft, a professor at Trinity College Dublin, though this “is nowadays used as the default explanation for the choice of 25 December as Christ’s birthday, few advocates of this theory seem to be aware of how paltry the available evidence actually is”. A widely-held theory is that the Church chose it as Christ’s birthday (Dies Natalis Christi) specifically to appropriate the Roman festival of the sun god’s birthday (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti). In AD 274, the emperor Aurelian made this the date of the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of Sol Invictus or the ‘Invincible Sun’. In the same century, Ovid wrote in the Fasti that the winter solstice is the first day of the “new Sun”.
But colder-than-usual temperatures are expected from central New England south through the Appalachians and into the Ohio Valley. Albanian traditional festivities around the winter solstice celebrate the return of the Sun (Dielli) for summer and the lengthening of the days. In the eighth century, Bede wrote that the pagan Anglo-Saxons had celebrated the festival Mōdraniht (‘Mothers’ Night’) at the winter solstice, which marked the start of the Anglo-Saxon year.

Appalachians

See The Old Farmer’s Almanac Winter Forecast for temperatures, snowfall, and the snowiest periods across the United States. When he saw the winter solstice, and he saw that the day was continuously lengthening, he said, “It is the order of the world!” He went and feasted for eight days. When the First Man saw that the day was continuously shortening, he said, “Woe is me! Because I have sinned, the world darkens around me, and returns to formlessless and void. This is the death to which Heaven has sentenced me!” He decided to spend eight days in fasting and prayer.

Northern Hemisphere

In the “astronomical” reckoning, the timing of “winter” is based on astronomical fixed points (i.e., based solely on the position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun), regardless of weather conditions. Since by almost all definitions valid for the Northern Hemisphere, winter spans 31 December and 1 January, meaning that the season takes up two calendar years, as summer does in the Southern Hemisphere. In this region, snow occurs every year in elevated regions such as the Andes, the Great Dividing Range in Australia, the mountains of New Zealand, and in the southerly Patagonia region of South Argentina. As a result, the coldest January on record in Stockholm, in 1987, was also the sunniest. The coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January or February in the Northern Hemisphere and in June, July or August in the Southern Hemisphere.
The opposite event is the summer solstice, which happens at the same time in the opposite hemisphere. The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. There is no snowing in many regions during winter.

Winter in Traditional Holidays Countries of the World

Temperatures are low and it is cold for some of them to stay outside, it is difficult to find food and shelter.
Everyone feels some magic in the air, because of frosts, crystal nights, snow and just this amazing atmosphere.
The Swedish Meteorological Institute (SMHI) defines thermal winter as when the daily mean temperatures are below 0 °C (32 °F) for five consecutive days.
Iranian people celebrate the night of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice as, “Yalda night”, which is known to be the “longest and darkest night of the year”.
This led some scholars to believe that Scandinavian Yule (Jól) originally was a sun festival on the winter solstice.
In this region, snow occurs every year in elevated regions such as the Andes, the Great Dividing Range in Australia, the mountains of New Zealand, and in the southerly Patagonia region of South Argentina.

The Atlantic’s warm pattern is expected to continue, while the Pacific’s cool pattern should weaken. Strong El Niño winters often favor milder temperatures across much of the United States and wetter conditions in parts of the West and South. This year’s El Niño is expected to be strong, with unusually warm waters across the equatorial Pacific. A strong El Niño has returned and is expected to continue through winter. While it will still be cold in Alaska this winter, temperatures will be above normal overall, with more snow compared with average. Expect a mild winter in the Desert Southwest, with warmer and drier conditions, including in areas that usually receive snow.

While much of the country is headed for a milder season, some areas will still see plenty of cold and snow. A snowier-than-normal winter is expected from central New England through the Appalachians, in the Intermountain region and Pacific Northwest, and in Alaska. While it won’t be as cold as usual, it’s still winter! Across much of the country, temperatures are expected to be near normal or warmer than normal. A milder winter doesn’t mean the cold is taking the year off.

Find Your 2026–2027 Winter Forecast

In his Panarion, also from the fourth century, Epiphanius of Salamis wrote that the winter solstice was celebrated on 25 December in Alexandria as the Kikellia. Macrobius wrote in the fourth century that the Sun appears small at the winter solstice, and on this shortest day, the Egyptians brought an idol of a child Sun god out of a shrine. Plutarch wrote in the Moralia (first century AD) that the Egyptians believed the goddess Isis gave birth to Harpocrates (Horus the Child) at the winter solstice. Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures and has been marked by festivals and rites. Other names are the “extreme of winter”, the “shortest day” and the “longest night”.