when do the evenings start getting brighter

[REDHEAD24]

what month and at what time

i hate the winter nites its making me depressed

[perigra]

shortest day is 21st of this month so days start getting longer on the 22nd

[bensmum]

In theory the days start getting longer after 21st December but really we don't see a lot of difference until the end of January as the weather is usually pretty grim. I know what you mean Red - it doesn't seem to have got light most of this week and today is dreadful.

[REDHEAD24]

thank u

[buildersmate]

Contrary to the first 2 answers, the evenings don't actually start getting lighter until into January. Whilst 21st December may be the shortest day, what happens in late December is that the evening sun sets even earlier than on 21st, but the morning sun starts to rise earlier - by more minutes difference than the morning. So whilst the day may be longer, the change is only noticeable in the mornings.
Its something to do with the angle of tilt of the earth.

[jgw58]

21st is the shortest day in the UK/Northern Hemisphere. But the evenings start getting longer - albeit only fractionally initially - after today. The mornings continue to be darker (i.e. get light later) up until around 4 January which, when everything's factored-in, results in the 21 December being the shortest day.

[Insertnamehere]

Hmm, all the answers so far are wrong! You are likely to THINK that it starts getting lighter earlier on December 21st (shortest day of the year) ... only it doesn't ... the sun starts setting a little later from the 13th or 14th and by the 21st it's already setting three or four minutes later. If you live in a city or big town it's not that noticeable but if you live in the country and are out around sunset you can already tell the difference by the solstice. You'd have to live under a bridge or in a basement to not start noticing the difference until the clocks go forward in March (as some folks claim) ... as the sun is setting 90 minutes later by then.

[Insertnamehere]

Sorry, jgw58's answer is right ... I'd misread it

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