Season
How Many Days Until Winter 2026?
Today: · Eastern Time (America/New_York)
Calendar days until Winter
58 days until Winter
First Day of Winter is on Monday, December 21, 2026.
Live countdown to midnight on December 21, 2026
57 days, 18 hours, 25 minutes, 20 seconds remaining
Eastern Time (America/New_York). Countdown days are 24 hours; the calendar-day count above uses local dates.
- Calendar days (signed)
- 58
- Full weeks + days
- 8 weeks + 2 days
- Calendar months + days
- 1 month + 27 days
- Years, months, days
- 0 years, 1 month, 27 days
- Weekdays counted
- 41
- Weekend days counted
- 17
- U.S. business days
- 39
- Observed holiday dates skipped
- 2
What is the first day of winter?
The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is the December solstice, the day with the fewest hours of daylight and the longest night. After it, days slowly get longer. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the longest day and the start of summer.
History of the first day of winter
Winter solstice festivals celebrating the return of the sun are among the oldest human traditions. Newgrange in Ireland, built more than 5,000 years ago, is aligned so that sunlight floods its inner chamber at sunrise around the solstice, and Yule and China's Dongzhi festival are also tied to it.
The first day of winter today
People gather at sites such as Stonehenge and Newgrange, celebrate with lights and bonfires, and families in China eat tangyuan rice balls for Dongzhi. In much of the U.S., the earliest sunset actually comes in early December and the latest sunrise in early January. Meteorological winter begins December 1.
Date details
- Category
- Season
- How the date is set
- Set by a yearly rule
- Country / region
- United States
- Actual event date
The December solstice marks the start of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Dates use Eastern Time; the moment can fall on the previous or next calendar day elsewhere. It is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Meteorological winter begins December 1.
Source: U.S. Naval Observatory
Event date facts
- Weekday
- Monday
- ISO week / year
- 52 / 2026
- Day of year
- 355
- Quarter
- 4
- Days left in year
- 10
- Leap year
- No
December 2026
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target | ||||||
Event dates by year
| Rule year | Actual date | Observed federal closure | Certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | No date available | — | Date awaiting announcement |
| 2026 | Monday, December 21, 2026 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2027 | Tuesday, December 21, 2027 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2028 | Thursday, December 21, 2028 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
| 2029 | Friday, December 21, 2029 | — | Set by a yearly rule |
Quick answers
- What day of the week is December 21, 2026?
- December 21, 2026 is a Monday.
- Is Winter a federal holiday?
- No. First Day of Winter is not a U.S. federal holiday, so federal offices and most businesses stay open.
- What week of the year is December 21, 2026?
- December 21, 2026 is in ISO week 52 of 2026 and is day 355 of the year.
How the Winter date is calculated
- The first day of winter is the date of the December solstice, when the Sun reaches its southernmost point in the sky (Northern Hemisphere). The moment comes about six hours later each year and jumps back after each leap day, so the date can move by a day.
- In 2026 it falls on Monday, December 21, 2026 in Eastern Time, from U.S. Naval Observatory data.
- The countdown counts calendar days from today to December 21, 2026. The start date is excluded and the end date is included. Dates use Eastern Time (America/New_York).
- The live countdown runs to midnight at the start of December 21, 2026 in Eastern Time (America/New_York). A countdown day is 24 hours, so a daylight-saving change can make it differ from the calendar-day count by an hour.
- Calculated at 6:34 AM on October 24, 2026.
- U.S. business days exclude Saturday, Sunday and observed nationwide federal closures; individual employer and state schedules are not included.