Prosper in a dynamic world
Search

Australia’s shortest day of the year is here

Today marks the date of the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, making it Australia’s shortest day of the year based on time between sunrise and sunset.

The winter solstice is an annual occurrence that falls in late-June each year. It marks the moment Earth’s Southern Hemisphere reached its furthest tilt away from the Sun, which causes:

  • The Southern Hemisphere’s shortest day of the year (longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere) based on daylight hours
  • The Sun to sit at its lowest point in the sky when viewed form the Southern Hemisphere (highest point for Northern Hemisphere viewers)
  • Recurrent discussions about the ‘official’ start of winter in Australia – while Australia’s meteorological winter starts on June 1, the solstice marks the beginning of the astronomical winter.

Orientation of Earth relative to the Sun at the winter solstice in June.

Image: Orientation of Earth relative to the Sun on the date of the winter solstice.

This year’s winter solstice occurred at 6:51am AEST on June 21, which was 8:51pm on June 20 based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). While the winter solstice is a moment in time, the day it falls on is also commonly referred to as the solstice.

Daylength on Friday, June 21, will range from about 9 hours and 1 minute in Hobart to 11 hours and 23 minutes in Darwin. Sydney will have just under 10 hours between sunrise and sunset and Melbourne’s day will last just over nine and a half hours.

Sunrise, sunset and day length times for Australia's capital cities on the 202 winter solstice.

Image: Approximate sunrise, sunset and day length times for Australia’s capital cities on the date of the 2024 winter solstice.

Following today’s winter solstice, days will start getting longer and nights will get shorter in Australia. This trend will continue for the next six months until the summer solstice in late December.

Latest news

Satisfy your weather obsession with these news headlines from around the nation, and the world.

Polar blast brings high energy demand to southeast Australia

A cold front sweeping over southeastern Australia is bringing an icy polar blast and chilly nights. The animation below shows the forecast temperatures at 850 hPa (approximately 1,500 metres up) easily dropping between –2°C to -4°C above the capital cities, which translates to near sea-level surface temperatures in the low-teens. Video: Forecast 850 hPa temperatures over […]

Australia’s highest wind energy generation ever

Wind power generation has reached record levels as a series of powerful cold fronts sweep over Australia’s southeast. Most of Australia’s wind farms are located in South Australia, Victoria and NSW where cold fronts frequently bring periods of high wind energy. Image: wind farm locations across southeastern Australia. A series of powerful cold fronts linked […]

Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano eruption disrupting aviation seen from space

Lewotobi Laki-Laki, on the island of Flores, Indonesia, erupted on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 17, sending a large plume of volcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere. Video: Volcanic Ash plume visible on satellite imagery on the morning of Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Lewotobi Laki-Laki and Perempuan The Lewotobi twin volcano is located on […]

How wind energy has changed Australia’s energy sector

An increasingly reliable and resilient Australian renewable energy network depends on varied and vast sources of energy and accurate and informative forecasting, to meet the increasing energy demand. The main criticism in the transition to renewable power supplies has come from the dependence on weather and climate to maintain a steady production to meet the […]