When the day starts to get longer

'Na nowy rok, przybywa dnia na barani skok'. Old Polish folk saying - "In the New Year, the day gains by the leap of a ram." In other words, not a whole lot.

Today, January 2nd, the day here is Warsaw is actually over six minutes longer than December 22nd, the shortest day. It does not seem to be so, because the sunrise is now actually two minutes later than at the Winter Solstice, rising today at 07:47. Indeed, today marks the year's latest sunrise. We've gained eight minutes in the evening, which no one notices, as most people are at work at half past three anyway.

In a month's time, in early February, the day will have lengthened by an hour and half, with an extra hour's daylight in the evening (sunset at half past four), and half an hour in the morning (sunrise at quarter past seven). That still means leaving and returning home in darkness.

Positions of the sun at sunrise across the year, as seen from our house. At equinox it rises in the east; at summer solstice it rises in the north-east, while at winter solstice it rises in the south-east.

By the spring equinox (22 March), the day will be 12 hours long, having gained four hours and 22 minutes - sunrise and sunset both at quarter to six (two hours earlier and two hours 22 minutes later respectively). A few days later, the clocks go forward, one feels spring in the air. But that all seems a long, long way off. It's still dark and cold.