The December solstice is the beginning of winter in which hemisphere?

The December solstice is the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

It is the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice because this half of Earth is tilted farthest away from the Sun at that point in its orbit. The result is the year’s shortest period of daylight and longest night for locations away from the Equator. The December solstice usually falls on December 21, although the calendar date can vary slightly.

At the same instant, the Southern Hemisphere experiences its summer solstice. There, the hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, producing its longest daylight period. The solstice is therefore a global astronomical event with opposite seasonal meanings north and south, not an event limited to one region.

The word “solstice” comes from Latin roots meaning “Sun standing still,” describing the Sun’s apparent pause in its north–south movement along the horizon before it reverses direction. Temperature does not reach its seasonal extreme immediately because land and oceans store and release heat; this delay is why the coldest weather often comes weeks after the solstice.