If I timed this right, this post will go live the minute the Earth is calculated to be at the winter solstice point.
It feels crazy to have to specify this, but it's 2025 and the internet has revealed how many people seem to not believe basic science. The solstice happens because the Earth is a spheroid planet in an elliptical orbit with an axial tilt of about 23° off from vertical in relation to that orbital plane. At the winter solstice, that tilt away from the sun at that point during our annual orbit results in the longest night in the northern hemisphere and the longest day in the southern hemisphere.
Winters are cold because we get fewer daylight hours, and what daylight we see is spread across a larger surface area due to the actual tilt and the speroid shape of the planet combining to spread that solar energy too thin. This is in spite of the fact that during the December solstice, the Earth is slightly closer to the sun in its not-quite-circular orbit.
The image above is from the Encyclopedia Britanica article about the winter solstice. If you prefer a less formal site, check out the Old Farmer's Almanac instead. No matter how hard the flat earthers try to misunderstand reality, that's how it works. This has been known, calculated, and verified by careful observations over and over for centuries even before space travel.
Since I live within 100 miles of the US/Canada border, this is the official start of winter and the slow beginning of longer daylight time. I am very glad to see the cycle shift because the cold and dark are miserable. No matter how slow it begins, I eagerly await the sun climbing higher above the horizon each day for the next few months from my vantage point here near Spokane, Washington.
So happy Solstice, everyone. Have your celebratory beverage of choice, or dance around a bonfire, or do whatever else seems most suitable to celebrate the occasion. Share pics in the comments, unless they're NSFW. I know a few folks who get a bit wild at their solstice bonfires. Comment while sober, and make sure you are clothed in any selfies, please.
Your post perfectly captures the exasperation many of us feel. In an age of unprecedented access to information, the need to reiterate fundamental astronomy is indeed surreal. You've concisely explained the mechanics: the Earth's axial tilt and elliptical orbit are non-negotiable, demonstrable realities. Yet, as you note, this basic science meets resistance, often drowned in a digital sea of misinformation and anecdotal narratives.
This paradox highlights a deeper crisis not of knowledge, but of trust and epistemology. The internet didn't create disbelief, but it amplified and weaponized it, allowing alternative "truths" to form insulated communities. Repeating facts, while necessary, feels like a defensive battle. The challenge now is cultivating scientific literacy and critical thinking as default skills, not just memorizing facts. We must address the why behind the disbelief—the cognitive biases, the societal polarization, the distrust in institutions—that leads people to reject a spherical Earth and a predictable solstice.
Your frustration is a call to action. It’s not just about explaining the solstice; it’s about persistently championing the scientific method, rational discourse, and the awe inherent in our universe's actual, verified mechanics. We must keep articulating the evidence, not with anger, but with patient resolve, reclaiming wonder from wilful ignorance.
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STOPIt would be nice if so many of those replies weren't copy/pasted spam, but hey, at least I can downvote that nonsense!
I indulged in a celebratory cup of tea, but it was already gone before I read your post. I guess I could take a photo of the empty mug...
Lol. Long bloody day for me then hahaha.
I also live within 100 miles of the border but on the north side, even though I think I am actually south of you? ;)
Anyhow, it always made me wonder why the shortest day of the year (sunlight wise) was not the coldest. When it should be the middle of winter, it is actually just the start.
The winter does seem longer, especially when the snow arrives a month earlier in November. Still, I have chosen to enjoy winter as otherwise, I would have the same amount of winter and less happiness.
Cheers to the solstice and longer days leading to spring!
You must be somewhere in the Great Lakes region of Ontario. As a former Minesotant, I know winter there is far more harsh than here!
I think it continues to get colder after the solstice because we continue to lose more heat than we gain despite the sun getting higher, just like how in summer the hottest days are after the other solstice and we continue to gain solar energy more than we lose it for a while.
Thanks to the weather in the Midwest, winter probably feels like a 6-month-long season there. Don't get lost in a blizzard!
Today is the longest night of the year!!! I remember when I learned about that in school, and I got amazed when not quite long ago I learned that this is what we call atronomical winter ( for obvious reasons) but one thing that it makes sende that there is also a meteorological Winter since temperatures especially here in Canada starts to change quite before that!! So meteorological Winter starts around dec 1st… also the spring don’t match also the astronomical spring hehe. Well we had quite good storms and freezing temps before today 😅