Get Ready For The Longest Night Of The Year In Wyoming

Wyoming residents are experiencing the darkest days of the year, but there’s good news: from here on out, daylight slowly starts to return.

Sunday marks the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. For Wyoming, that means limited daylight, cold temperatures and long nights — something many locals know well. After the solstice, the sun begins climbing higher in the sky, and each day brings a little more daylight all the way through late June.

The word “solstice” comes from Latin words meaning “sun” and “pause,” referring to the point when the sun appears to stop moving lower in the sky before reversing course. On the winter solstice, the sun takes its lowest and shortest path across the sky, which is why daylight is at a minimum.

People have marked the solstice for thousands of years, building monuments and holding celebrations tied to the sun’s movement. Today, it remains an important seasonal marker, especially in places like Wyoming, where winter conditions can be long and demanding.

So what’s happening above us? As the Earth orbits the sun, it does so on a tilt. During the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest away from the sun, resulting in shorter days and longer nights. The winter solstice can fall between Dec. 20 and 23, and this year it lands on Dec. 21.

The opposite happens in summer, when the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the sun, bringing Wyoming its longest days around late June.

The solstices are different from equinoxes, which occur when day and night are nearly equal in length. The fall equinox happens in late September, while the spring equinox arrives in March and signals the gradual return of warmer weather.

It’s also worth noting the difference between astronomical and meteorological seasons. Astronomical seasons are based on the Earth’s position in space, while meteorological seasons are tied to weather patterns. By meteorological standards, winter begins Dec. 1 — even if it feels like it arrived much earlier in many parts of the state.

For now, the winter solstice serves as a reminder that while Wyoming’s darkest days are here, brighter ones are already on the way.