The sun begins to rise under clouds over the Swiss and French Alps mountains seen from the snow cove
Enlarge Laurent Gillieron/AP Photo/Keystone

Sunrise in Switzerland today.

The sun begins to rise under clouds over the Swiss and French Alps mountains seen from the snow cove
Laurent Gillieron/AP Photo/Keystone

Sunrise in Switzerland today.

This won't be a surprise to those of us in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, which got buried in snow over the weekend:

At 12:47 p.m. ET the winter solstice arrived, making this the "shortest" day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.

But look at it this way: From now until next June 21, the days are only getting "longer"!

In case you've forgotten what we all should have learned when we were kids, here's the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's definition of "winter solstice":

The time at which the sun is farthest south in the Southern Hemisphere, on or around December 21.

If you're inclined toward this science stuff, by the way, you might want to check out NPR.org's newest blog — 13.7.