Say goodbye to fall in Lexington County if you haven’t already. Winter officially begins tomorrow 5:23 pm EST. The Winter Solstice Friday is the astronomical first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s summer south of the Equator in the Southern Hemisphere. Friday will be the shortest day of the year with the fewest hours of sunlight. December’s full cold moon will appear on Friday night, although it will not be at its absolute peak until the next day. The next full moon to peak on the winter solstice won’t be until 2094. The word solstice comes from Latin sol “sun” and sistere “to stand still.” In the Northern Hemisphere, the points on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advance southward each day. The high point in the Sun’s daily path across the sky, which occurs at noon here, also moves southward each day. At the winter solstice, the Sun’s path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. A few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same, or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at “high-noon” on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn.