Meteorologists named the date of the beginning of astronomical winter in Latvia 0 14

The moment of the winter solstice will occur at 17:03. December 21 will be the shortest day of the year. The duration of daylight in Riga will be six hours, 43 minutes, and 31 seconds. In comparison, on the day of the summer solstice, the duration of daylight is 11 hours and nine minutes longer.

After the winter solstice, each day will become longer, and the night shorter. At the same time, at the end of December, sunrise will be slightly later, and the duration of the day will increase due to a later sunset.

The earliest sunset will be on December 14 and 15, when the sun will set at 15:41 in Riga, and the latest sunrise will be on December 28, when the sun will rise in the capital at 9:01.

The shortest day of the year in other regions of the country will last from six hours and 26 minutes in Valmiera, the northernmost point of Latvia, to seven hours and two minutes in the Augšdaugava region, the southernmost point of the country.

The earliest sunrise on the day of the solstice will be at 8:38 in the extreme southeast of the country, on the border with Belarus, while the latest will be at 9:14 in Ovišrag, Ventspils region. The earliest sunset will be in the border towns of Alūksne and Balvi, where the sun will set at 15:26, and in the extreme southwest of the South Kurzeme region, the sun will set at 16:02.

Solar winter is a quarter of the year when the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth receives the least sunlight; it began on November 6 and will end on February 4. Christmas is the midpoint of solar winter.

This year, meteorological winter in Latvia began on November 23, when the average daily temperature dropped below zero. It will end when the average daily temperature consistently rises above zero, but not earlier than February 6.