winter solstice

It has begun to feel like fall, with schools in session and a chill in the air, but the season actually arrives at the moment of autumnal equinox at 10:29 p.m. Monday.

Baltimore's first sunset to take place after 5 p.m. since November occurs Wednesday evening.

Unique celestial events in 2014 include two full lunar eclipses visible from Maryland and a partial solar eclipse that will begin just before sunset one October afternoon. A new meteor shower could be a bonus.

Temperatures hit 70 degrees Saturday with similar warmup in store on Sunday

We think of the winter solstice as the "shortest" day of the year, but the solstice actually occurs at an instant, when the sun is the furthest south in the sky because of the Earth's tilted axis.

May your Christmas celebration be one of joy with family members and friends for the next 12 days...remember, the partridge in a pear tree? In Great Britain and Canada, folks celebrate Boxing Day (Dec. 26) with an exchange of gifts.

The Long Night¿s Moon will be in the night sky early Tuesday morning, getting its name from its proximity to the winter solstice. But it may be hard to see through growing clouds from another snowy system.

Wednesday is the last day in Baltimore with more daylight hours than nighttime until spring.

The sun is already out several fewer seconds each day since last week's solstice, but the time of sunset has continued to shift later -- until Friday.

March's full moon arrives Wednesday morning, the first to fall after the vernal equinox.

The moon reaches its ¿fullest¿ phase at 3:26 p.m. today, so when it rises at about 6:05 p.m., it will be shining brightly, with clear skies expected. The International Space Station will meanwhile make a few passes over Maryland this week, but clouds could block it.

Fueled by media and pushed on the Internet, we learned that some mathematically astute ancient Mayans made a calendar with an end-date of 12/21/12. For sure, there are other calendars out there, but in the West, we love to romanticize ancient peoples, but seriously, folks, the Mayans had issues, too. Despite their intelligence and talents, most seem to have disappeared. Was that due to carelessness (overpopulation); droughts (can't control the weather); killing each other; maiden sacrifices?

Winter officially arrived with the solstice at 6:12 Friday morning, and along with it came a brisk wind in the Baltimore area and snow in Western Maryland.

Apocalypse When? Well, 12:01 a.m. past us by (even in Mayan Time, otherwise known as Central Time) and the nothing really happened. Pessimists are still holding out hope though, guessing maybe it will happen at the end of long day's work right before your Christmas vacation starts.

Old Man Winter and Jack Frost are teaming up to blast us this winter. Get prepared for a possible snowy, blowy, cold, white winter. The winter solstice and the shortest/darkest day of the year is Saturday, Dec. 22

We are still about two weeks away from the shortest day of the year, but after Friday night, the early winter sunsets will start shifting later again.

As the winter solstice approaches, we should consider taking things slow

Tuesday is the last day this year with more daylight than darkness in Baltimore.

Lows of 59 degrees Sunday and Monday mornings at BWI Marshall Airport were the lowest since June.

Like father, like son ... Ken Kolodner of Guilford is a well known instrumentalist playing fiddle and hammered dulcimer. Now, his son, Bradley, who graduated from college recently, is joining his dad on stage and in the studio while trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Last year, their album was the Number One most played instrumental album in the country, they say.

Like father, like son ... Ken Kolodner of Guilford is a well known instrumentalist playing fiddle and hammered dulcimer. Now, his son, Bradley, who graduated from college recently, is joining his dad on stage and in the studio.

Catonsville firefighters arrive on scene sooner, thanks to 70 hp engine.

Those looking for a tree that has four-season appeal should consider Crataegus inermis, a drought-tolerant variety of cockspur hawthorn.

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary.

People gathered at a Bel Air church Wednesday evening to remember homeless people in Harford County.

Russett neighborhoods' breakfast with Santa offered all the amenities of the holiday season.

Hudson's Corner column