The winter solstice in 2016 falls on 21 December. The shortest day of the year starts on Wednesday at 10:45 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) or 14:45 Tbilisi time.
Solstice - one of the two days of the year, when the sun's altitude above the horizon at noon, the minimum or maximum. In the year two solstice - winter and summer. At the winter solstice the sun rises at the lowest height above the horizon. Astronomical longitude of the sun in the winter and summer solstice is respectively 90 and 270 degrees. Astronomical winter For astronomers this is the beginning of winter, although optimists rightly believe that the date of the winter solstice all slowly but surely approaching the summer.