The December solstice
Around December 21, the Southern Hemisphere leans furthest toward the sun. It’s the longest day of the year there, and the shortest in the Northern Hemisphere.
Around the world on December 21
| City | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Petersburg 59.94°N | 10:01 | 15:54 | 5h 53m |
| London 51.51°N | 08:04 | 15:54 | 7h 50m |
| New York 40.71°N | 07:17 | 16:32 | 9h 15m |
| Cairo 30.06°N | 06:48 | 17:00 | 10h 12m |
| Mumbai 19.07°N | 07:08 | 18:07 | 10h 59m |
| Singapore 1.29°N | 07:02 | 19:05 | 12h 03m |
| Nairobi 1.28°S | 06:26 | 18:37 | 12h 12m |
| Lima 12.04°S | 05:42 | 18:32 | 12h 50m |
| Johannesburg 26.20°S | 05:13 | 19:00 | 13h 47m |
| Sydney 33.87°S | 05:41 | 20:06 | 14h 24m |
| Buenos Aires 34.61°S | 05:38 | 20:07 | 14h 29m |
| Wellington 41.29°S | 05:45 | 20:54 | 15h 09m |
| Ushuaia 54.81°S | 04:52 | 22:12 | 17h 20m |
Extremes in the puzzle’s cities
Longest days
- Ushuaia 17h 20m
- Grytviken 17h 12m
- Punta Arenas 16h 58m
- Puerto Natales 16h 41m
- Río Gallegos 16h 40m
Shortest days
- Saint Petersburg 5h 53m
- Oslo 5h 54m
- Tallinn 6h 03m
- Stockholm 6h 05m
- Vologda 6h 07m
Cities within 60° of the equator, as in the daily puzzle. The solstices are when the puzzle is most generous: day lengths are spread over hours, not minutes.
After the solstice
Day length changes slowest right around a solstice, by seconds a day, and then speeds up toward the next equinox. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise don’t fall exactly on the solstice either: they’re shifted by a couple of weeks because the length of the solar day varies slightly through the year.