Today is the shortest day of the calendar year! Here's why!

TODAY'S THE DAY! Today's the day we make the seasonal switch from autumn to winter.

In central time, the winter solstice occurs at 9:27PM, which is the moment where the sun's rays are focused on the Tropic of Capricorn.  

This is why today is known as the shortest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, featuring 9 hours and 5 minutes of daylight. In the southern hemisphere, it's the longest day of the year as they switch from spring to summer. 

The forecast however for the first few days of winter will be far from winter-like. Temperatures become extremely mild, with highs peaking in the 50s Saturday through Christmas. 

In fact, we could just miss or briefly touch our record high on Christmas Eve which is 55° (1982, 2019, 2021). 

Along with the warm temperatures comes several days where rain will be a part of the forecast. Light rain will be likely late Friday morning into Friday afternoon, and then again during Christmas Day.