Winter Solstice

The December solstice is the moment the sun reaches its most southerly point, giving the northern hemisphere its shortest day and longest night, and the southern hemisphere its longest day. It happens at a single instant worldwide, so the local clock time differs everywhere. In Cardiff the solstice brings roughly seven hours and fifty minutes of daylight, sunrise around 8:18am and sunset around 4:07pm, against just over sixteen and a half hours at midsummer. Bangor, nearly two degrees further north, loses about another twenty minutes. In Wales the date was traditionally Alban Arthan, and the sunrise alignment at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey marks the summer solstice counterpart.