The winter solstice will occur in the northern hemisphere this weekend, and while it will bring the shortest and darkest day of the year, it marks the start of more daylight and brighter days ahead -- until then, there are holiday lights in Connecticut to brighten the short days.

Due to the sun's tilt during the winter solstice, shadows will be the longest at 12 p.m. for those in the northern hemisphere, according to the Farmers' Almanac.

This year, the winter solstice will take place on Saturday, Dec. 21, and every year it occurs on either Dec. 21 or 22, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. Here's what it means for the Nutmeg State.

The winter solstice will occur on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 4:20 a.m. EST, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Winter solstice marks the start of winter for the northern hemisphere and summer for the southern hemisphere, according to the NWS.

The winter solstice also marks the shortest day of the year, or the day with the fewest hours of sunlight, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. It occurs when half of the earth is tilted the farthest away from the sun on Dec. 21 or 22, according to National Geographic.

After Saturday, the days will grow longer by a few seconds per day, the Old Farmer's Alamanac states, until the summer solstice, which will occur on June 20, 2025, according to the NWS. The summer solstice marks the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, National Geographic states.

The winter solstice marks the first day of winter, and in Connecticut, conditions will be cold. The weekend forecast for the Nutmeg State calls for light snow to continue falling overnight on Friday into Saturday with temperatures dropping in the single digits. As of Friday morning, snowfall was predicted to reach1 to 2 inches, with slightly higher amounts possible in far eastern and northwestern Connecticut.

As winter solstice occurs on Saturday morning, an arctic air mass will drop temperatures later in the day with lows in the teens and single digits overnight. The plummeting temperatures prompted Gov. Ned Lamont to activate state's severe cold weather protocol to go into effect from noon Saturday though noon Tuesday. It will be the first time so far this season that the protocol has been used.

For some cultures, the winter solstice is associated with traditional rituals, according to the Farmers' Almanac. For instance, in Druidic traditions, the winter solstice "is thought of as a time of death and rebirth... when the Old Sun dies," the Farmers' Almanac states. The Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival, with origins traced back to Ancient China, is celebrated during the winter solstice as a time for families to get together and celebrate the past year, according to the Farmers' Almanac, and it is thought that "positive things will become stronger and stronger."

There are two equinoxes, vernal and autumnal, and two solstices, winter and summer, according to the NWS. Seasons are caused because the earth is tilted and rotates around the sun on its axis, which always points in the same direction, the NWS says.

Equinoxes occur in March and September when the earth is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, when it experiences a "'nearly' equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes," the NWS states. In an equinox, days become longer because it takes the sun longer to rise and set, according to the NWS.

Solstices occur in December and June, the NWS states. The summer solstice occurs when the earth tilts toward the sun in June, and the winter solstice takes place when the earth tilts away from the sun in December, according to the NWS.

The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year for every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, which runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China, the NWS states. The winter solstice marks the shortest and longest night of the year for every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, which runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil, and northern South Africa, according to the NWS.