"Here's what happens on the longest night of the year—in the solar system and across different cultures here on Earth. IN 2021, THE winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere happens on December 21. While not as dramatic as 2020's conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, the longest night of the year is a significant turning point. Astronomical winter begins, and the days gradually get longer again. Curious why this happens? WIRED spoke with Tansu Daylan, a Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) postdoctoral associate at MIT, to better understand the winter solstice and our planet's relationship with the sun. To picture what is happening in space during a winter solstice, start by thinking of a giant glass ball surrounding the Earth, and let's ignore the planet's rotation (which complicates everything). Daylan says, "If you look at the three-dimensional sphere that's around us, known as the celestial sphere, the sun as well as all other solar system objects move through a plane in this celestial sphere, known as the ecliptic plane."

See more from Wired HERE:

A quick moving storm system will push through the region early Tuesday with light snow accumulations across the northern half of the state. The Twin Cities will be on the southern edge of the system, so amounts should be fairly light (up to 1"), but it could make roadways slippery for the AM commute. The heaviest tallies will be found across parts of central and northern Minnesota, where some 2" to 5" tallies can't be ruled out.

Here's the snowfall potential from our AM Tuesday system. Note that the heaviest tallies will be found across the northern half of the state, where some 2" to 5" tallies can't be ruled out. Across the Twin Cities, amounts will range from a light coating across the south metro to an inch or so across the north metro.

Here's the weather outlook from AM Tuesday to PM Sunday, which shows our light snow potential early Tuesday and a light wintry mix possible again AM Thursday. Another system could bring light rain/snow to the area on Friday, which could change to snow on Saturday. The weather ahead looks a little more active, but there won't be any major snow events through the Christmas weekend.

Here's the extended snowfall potential through the Christmas weekend, which shows some of the heaviest tallies across the international border.

According to the US Drought Monitor, nearly 1% of the state is still considered to be in an extreme drought (in red across northern Minnesota), which is down from nearly 36% from 3 months ago. There has been a slight improvement in Severe Drought, which is at 27%, down from 59% 3 months ago. Nearly 49% of the state is still under a Moderate Drought, which includes much of the Twin Cities Metro.

Here's the weather outlook for Minneapolis on Tuesday, which shows light snow falling through the first half of the day with minor snow accumulations likely in the Twin Cities. Skies will quickly clear as we head through the 2nd half of the day.

The hourly temps for Minneapolis on Tuesday show temps starting in the lower 10s in the morning and warming in the low/mid 20s by the afternoon. Southerly winds will turn to the WNW in the afternoon with gusts approaching 25mph.

Here are the hourly feels like temps for Minneapolis on Tuesday, which show readings in the single digits through much of the day. Bundle up, it'll be another chilly one!

High temps across the region on Tuesday will warm into the 10s & 20s across much of the state, which will be nearly -5F to -10F below average across the northern half of the state.

Temperatures through the rest of the week will gradually warm to near 40F by the end of the week, which will be nearly +10F to +15F above average for this time of the year. It'll be warm enough on Friday for a light rain/snow mix. Temperatures over the weekend will fall to near normal levels once again.

According to the ECMWF & GFS extended temperature outlook, we'll be warmer later this week with high temperatures approaching 40F on Thursday and Friday. The last full week of December looks cooler with at or below average temperatures. Stay tuned...

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook shows below average reading across the Western US and northern tier of the nation by the end of the month. Meanwhile, much of the rest of the nation will running well above average once again.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, more active weather in place across the nation. More active weather will be possible from the Southwest to the Midwest, stay tuned!

"Hello darkness my old friend". It sounded better coming from Simon and Garfunkel. The Winter Solstice arrives at 9:59am today; the sun as low in the southern horizon as it ever gets. 8 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. By the way, we pick up an additional minute of daylight on Christmas Day. That, and Twins preseason tickets on sale, mark the first signs of spring.

A coating of snow is possible today with a couple inches north of MSP, where a white Christmas is likely. In the metro area much of whatever snow is left will melt, with daytime highs above 32F the latter half of the week. Models hint at light rain and 40F at MSP Christmas Eve, followed by cooler weather over the weekend.

A dozen tornadoes have been confirmed in Minnesota from last Wednesday's freakish severe weather outbreak. I'm hoping Santa brings me a bigger Doppler in 2022.

TUESDAY: Metro coating. 2-4" north. Winds: W 15-25. High: 23.

TUESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Winds: S turning NW 5. Low: 11.

WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny and milder. Winds: S 10-15. High: 32.

THURSDAY: Few flakes, risk of a thaw. Winds: S 7-12. Wake-up: 23. High: 36.

SATURDAY: Some sun, cooler breeze. Winds: E 7-12. Wake-up: 13. High: 29.

SUNDAY: Potential for accumulating snow. Winds: E 15-25. Wake-up: 16. High: 26.

MONDAY: More light snow or flurries. Winds: S 8-13. Wake-up: 24. High: 30.

December 21st

1993: Strong northwest winds gust to 35 miles an hour, causing near whiteout conditions over a wide area of southwest Minnesota from the late afternoon on the 21st into the early morning of the 22nd. Several car accidents occurred. A 30 year old man was killed when he lost control of his truck and slid into a ditch in the near blizzard like conditions. Counties affected include: Blue Earth, Brown, Chippewa, Faribault, Lac Qui Parle, Redwood, Renville, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.

December 21st

Average High: 25F (Record: 56F set in 1877)

Average Low: 8F (Record: -24F set in 1916)

Record Rainfall: 0.71" set in 2006

Record Snowfall: 5.3" set in 1920

Sunrise: 7:47am

Sunset: 4:34pm

Hours of Daylight: ~8 hours & 46 minutes

Daylight LOST since yesterday: ~ 1 seconds

Daylight LOST since Summer Solstice (June 20th): ~6 Hour & 51 Minutes

"December is usually considered the month that the winter cold begins to fasten its grip in the Northern Hemisphere. This month's full moon is also called the Long Night Moon, since nights are at their longest and darkest. It's also known as the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long and the moon is above the horizon a long time. The midwinter full moon takes a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite to the low sun. This is also the smallest full moon of 2021 (a "micromoon," or minimoon), since the Earth will arrive at apogee, its farthest distance from Earth, on Dec. 17 at a distance of 252,476 miles (406,320 km). The moon will appear some 14% smaller compared to the full moon of May 26."

The weather outlook on Tuesday shows above average temperatures across parts of the Central US, including Denver, CO, where highs will be near +20F above average! Meanwhile, areas of rain and mountain snow will be possible in the Northwest.

The weather through the middle part of the week shows active weather continuing in the Western US with heavy, flooding rains along the coast and heavy snow in the high elevations.

According to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, areas of heavy precipitation will be found in the Western US, where several inches of liquid precipitation will be possible. There will also be decent amount of rain across parts of Florida as a storm system pushes through.

Here's the extended snowfall potential through Christmas, which show heavy snow potential across the Western US. There will also be another swath of heavy snow along the International Border and into the Northeast.

See more from Yale Climate Connections HERE:

"Tiny microbes belching toxic gas helped cause—and prolong—the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history, a new study suggests. Generally, scientists believe Siberian volcanos spitting greenhouse gases primarily drove the mass extinction event about 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. The gases caused extreme warming, which in turn led 80% of all marine species, as well as many land species, to go extinct. Until now, scientists could not explain exactly how the heat caused those deaths. A new UC Riverside-led study in Nature Geoscience shows that the heat accelerated microbes' metabolisms, creating deadly conditions. "After oxygen in the ocean was used up to decompose organic material, microbes started to 'breathe' sulfate and produced hydrogen sulfide, a gas that smells like rotten eggs and is poisonous to animals," said UC Riverside Earth system modeler Dominik Hülse. As ocean photosynthesizers—the microbes and plants that form the base of the food chain—rotted, other microbes quickly consumed the oxygen and left little of it for larger organisms. In the absence of oxygen, microbes consumed sulfate then expelled toxic, reeking hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, creating an even more extreme condition called euxinia. These conditions were sustained by the release of nutrients during decomposition, promoting the production of more organic material which helped to maintain this stinky, toxic cycle."

See more from Phys.org HERE:

"For three days in August, seven billion tonnes of rain fell across Greenland – the largest amount since records began in 1950. It's also the first time since then that rain, not snow, fell on Greenland's highest peak. This is alarming. Greenland's ice sheet is the second largest on the planet (after Antarctica) and any rain falling on its surface accelerates melting. By 15 August, the amount of ice lost was seven times greater than is normal for mid-August. This is just the latest extreme climate event on the island, which sits in the North Atlantic Ocean. In a single day in July this year, the amount of ice that melted in Greenland would have covered the US state of Florida with five centimetres of water. And last October, research showed ice in Greenland is melting faster than at any other time in the past 12,000 years. Melting ice in Greenland threatens to significantly hamper humanity's efforts to mitigate climate change. That's because, after a certain point, it may create catastrophic 'feedback loops'."

See more from Echo.net HERE: