The Winter Solstice has just passed and after a mild stretch of temps, Winter is back! The solstice occurred at 4:22pm on Friday. It's officially the shortest day of the year with just nine hours and two seconds of daylight.

 And now we head into the coldest time of the year. The average high and low for the first day of winter is 31°/18°. We bottom out in January where the average high temperature holds steady at 29° and lows hover in the mid to upper teens. By the end of winter the average high and low is 44°/29°. We also average 34.1 inches of snow from the solstice to the Spring Equinox. This year that comes on March 20th, just eighty-seven days away.

In the mean time there are a few highlights. Days continue to get longer. Take a look at sunset times from the solstice, through Daylight Saving to the Spring Equinox:

We'll have sunshine to enjoy tomorrow as well! Then, we're tracking a bit of festive snow on Christmas day! As far as what you can expect for the rest of our winter, we look to a weak El Niño. As of now, there are no real strong signs one way or the other, but rather normal temperatures and precipitation expected for the rest of the winter season.

I'm meteorologist Rebecca Schuld