Weeks Until First Day of Winter (Northern Hemisphere) 2026

First Day of Winter (Northern Hemisphere) 2026 falls on Monday, December 21, 2026 — a Monday. As of today that is 59 days, or 8 weeks and 3 days. The table below lists every "weeks to go" milestone between now and the date, so you can work backwards from the day itself instead of counting forward from today.

Why the week count moves the way it does

Weeks are the unit people actually plan in. Deadlines, notice periods and rotas run in weeks, which is why a week count tends to be more useful than a raw day count once you are more than a fortnight out. Note that the two figures answer slightly different questions: "how many weeks" is full weeks only, while "weeks and days" keeps the remainder.

About First Day of Winter (Northern Hemisphere) 2026

The december solstice of 2026 falls on December 21, 2026 at 20:48 UTC — the astronomical start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere (summer below the equator).

Astronomically, this is the Sun at its southernmost point — winter begins in the north, summer in the south. It is also the day the tide of daylight turns: after the December solstice the change is barely minutes per week, then accelerates — the reason the weeks after a solstice feel darker (or lighter) faster than the solstice day itself.

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