Winter is here...

The winter solstice is the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight. In 2009, this occurs for the Northern Hemisphere on December 21. The winter solstice is often referred to as the first day of winter. But there are other definitions of winter. For example, the beginning of winter might be defined on the calendar day, on average, when precipitation has an equal chance of falling as rain or snow. For Madison, that calendar day is November 15. Meteorologists often define the three months of winter as December, January and February – the coldest of the year.

Of course another way to define winter is when you get a lot of snow. Which we have - over a foot!