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Friday is the Winter Solstice

Is it really the "start" of winter?

Friday at 4:33 PM is the Winter Solstice for the northern hemisphere, but what does it mean? 

One could argue it's 'mid-winter' since this is the weakest sunshine. 

The strongest rays of the sun today reach the tropic of Capricorn (23.4 degrees latitude south of the equator) which runs through South America, southern Africa and Australia. 

After today, those rays start their slow march north again where they'll reach the equator by the vernal (spring) equinox in late March and of course the northern hemisphere tropic (of cancer) by late June! 

The sun today is only about 31 percent of its June intensity for us in Minnesota!

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