Douglas: After Saturday, daylight is on the upswing once again

We pick up four minutes of daylight by New Year’s Day, and an additional hour by the end of January.

December 20, 2024 at 10:56PM

We got snow for Christmas. Check that off the list. And Saturday we get our first (fake) glimpse of spring to come. Welcome to the winter solstice, the shortest daylight of the year.

Only eight hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds of daylight Saturday, almost half the amount of daylight we see in late June. We pick up four minutes of daylight by New Year’s Day. An additional hour by the end of January!

I’m more irritated by the lack of daylight than a lack of warmth. I can always slap on more clothes, but the sudden urge to go to bed at 7 p.m. is an acquired taste.

MSP picked up 5.5 inches of snow from Thursday’s clipper, and despite a slow warming trend we should still have 1 to 2 inches of sloppy snow on the ground on Dec. 25. A white Christmas by a whisker.

Under a cloud-cluttered sky we hit 20 degrees today and 30 degrees on Sunday. Daytime highs poke above freezing from Monday into New Year’s Day.

No traffic-grinding storms, maybe a little slush on Monday, but the atmosphere may be warm enough for rain or drizzle after Christmas. Say what?

about the writer

about the writer

Paul Douglas

Columnist

Paul Douglas is a nationally-respected meteorologist, with 40 years of broadcast television and radio experience. He provides daily print and online weather services for the Star Tribune.

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