San Diego gets more daylight than Redding on winter solstice. How do other cities compare?

The shortest day of the year is near, meaning Californians will get more hours of darkness than daylight. Depending on where you live, that could be several seconds less than others. Or, in the case of people in San Diego, more than 30 minutes of daytime compared to those far north in the state in Redding.

The winter solstice is on Saturday, Dec. 21, in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the astronomical seasonal change from fall to winter, and it is also the shortest day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight, according to the Smithsonian Science Education Center.

The winter solstice will occur at 1:21 a.m. PST, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Seasons are caused by the Earth being tilted on its axis as it orbits the sun, and the winter solstice occurs when “Earth’s tilt away from the sun is at a maximum,” according to the National Weather Service and NASA.

So, how many daytime hours can you expect on the winter solstice? We used Time and Date, a website that provides detailed information about time based on the area you select, to see how much daylight select California cities will experience.

We’ve also included the length of day for the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year, to compare. The summer solstice was on June 20 this year.

Is today the winter solstice? See the length of your day on Dec. 21

Los Angeles

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 53 minutes and 4 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 25 minutes and 32 seconds

Palm Springs

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 54 minutes and 14 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 24 minutes and 18 seconds

Redding

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 16 minutes and 3 seconds
• June 20: 15 hours, 4 minutes and 48 seconds

Sacramento

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 51 minutes and 51 seconds

Salinas

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 39 minutes and 3 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 40 minutes and 21 seconds

San Diego

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 59 minutes and 49 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds

San Francisco

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 46 minutes and 55 seconds

Stockton

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 31 minutes and 50 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours and 48 minutes

Ventura

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 51 minutes and 54 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Victorville

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 50 minutes and 33 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 28 minutes and 11 seconds

Visalia

• Dec. 21: 9 hours, 40 minutes and 58 seconds
• June 20: 14 hours, 38 minutes and 19 seconds

When does the day start getting longer?

After the winter solstice, daylight will start to gradually increase until we reach the summer solstice in 2025, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.