First Alert Weather In-Depth: Looking forward to a sunny disposition

We already have had some episodes of winter weather this season. 

And you may think that winter has already begun.

Not by the calendar.

Did you know the winter season officially begins Thursday at 10:27 p.m.? However, it is important to note that this is not so much a meteorological designation, but an astronomical event.

This labeling of the season really comes down to the path of the sun and the total amount of daylight. If you go back to June 21^st, the angle of the sun above the horizon was 70 degrees. But as we get into the fall season, that sun angle is getting lower and lower. On Sept. 21^st, the start of the fall season, the sun angle is down to 47 degrees and the amount of daylight has decreased significantly.

This Thursday, the start of winter, we are at the shortest day of the year for daylight. The sun angle is at its lowest point in the sky at only a 23-degree angle above the horizon. You may notice the sun comes up quickly and it goes down rather quickly. To give you a different perspective. If we were to plot the amount of minutes of daylight on a bell curve, Rochester is at the bottom of the curve.

But things are looking up as we go forward in time and it we have only good news for the “daylight calculator.”  Each day we will gain seconds and minutes of daylight. By Feb. 1^st, it is already turning brighter and by March 20^th, we gain almost three hours of total daylight. So it really comes down to having patience when it comes to a brighter sky .