If ye who are unluckily still at school have been complaining about the drag that is Cantabrigian winter, The Voice is here to gently remind you that you’re, well, early.

For those of you not up to snuff on your Science Of The Earth knowledge, despite whatever maledictions we’ve been verbalizing toward the weather lately, winter technically starts tomorrow, December 21st, the day of the winter solstice. The solstice marks the day that the sun’s direct angle of insolation hits its farthest south in the Earth’s trajectory around the sun, the 23.5° South latitude, also known as the Tropic of Capricorn. See the following handy visual aids:

As the Earth revolves, its axial tilt of 23.5° points the planet in varying directions vis-à-vis the sun, resulting in different latitudes receiving the greatest intensities of insolation at different times of the year.

On December 21st, the Earth's southern hemisphere is angled toward the sun, such that the Tropic of Capricorn is the recipient of the most direct radiance.

After tomorrow, the direct angle of insolation will venture consistently northward as the Earth revolves, altering the latitudes which will profit from the most intense insolation, hitting the equator on the first day of spring and reaching its farthest north, the 23.5° North latitude line, on June 21st, the beginning of summer. That means we Harvardians at 42° North will bask in the direct rays of the sun’s glow…well, never.

On the literal bright side, however, the winter solstice does mark the shortest day of the year. After tomorrow, the amount of sunlight each day will increase gradually until June, slowly closing the crippling cycle of winter-induced nocturnality for we college students who wake up at 1 p.m. when the sun sets at 4:14.