It’s the first day of winter, or is it? Updated Dec 21, 2020; Winter has officially started, or has it? It depends on if you are observing astronomical winter or meteorological winter. The winter solstice marks the exact time when the sun is lowest on the horizon. As a result of the sun being so low on the horizon, daylight is also limited. In other words, today is has the least amount of daylight of any day in the year. Source: National Weather Service - Gaylord I guess if you are a fan of daylight you can say it’s all brighter from now until late June.