National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

The winter solstice takes place at 3:21 am CST on Saturday, December 21st. On this date, the amount of possible daylight is at its shortest amount. This does not actually line up with the earliest sunset and latest sunrise, though. The earliest sunset in our area occurred at the beginning of the month, while sunrise will get a few minutes later before its latest point at the end of the month.

During the winter solstice, the Earth's axis is tilted at its farthest point from the sun, 23.5 degrees. While we're actually about as close to the Sun as we typically get each year, it is the low sun angle that causes this period to be colder than summer. 

 

 Earliest sunset