Welcome to the shortest day of the year.

The winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere will be at 4.24pm today when the sun's position reaches its farthest point north of the Equator.

Today brings the least daylight of the year, and in terms of daylight, today is five hours shorter than back at Christmas and New Year.

After 4.24pm today we start the slow tilt back to the sun and yes that means summer.

The days generally get colder now and the next few weeks are usually coldest. So welcome to winter on the astronomical calendar.

Today is a two-clothing-layer day with a high of 16 and an overnight low of 12 degrees.

This day in history in 1964 the Beatles landed in NZ, and in 1975 the movie Jaws was released to the world.

Check out today's inspirational quote and what the surf is doing at the Mount Main beach on our weather wrap video.

Have a great day!