It's winter solstice today, meaning the shortest day of the year is finally upon us.

From tomorrow onwards, the days will slowly begin to grow longer as we emerge from winter into spring. 

Summer solstice may still seem a long way off, however the clocks will change sooner than you may think. 

Here's what you need to know about when the clocks will go forward in 2022...

When will the clocks go forward in 2022?

The clocks will go forward at 1am on Sunday March 27 2022.

It means we lose one hour of the day as we move from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time (BST), giving us more hours of daylight.

We will then gain this hour back when the clocks go back again in October, which in 2022 will take place on Sunday October 30 at 2am. 

The clocks change on the same weekends every year and always go forward on the last weekend of March. 

The changes always occur in the early hours of a Sunday in order to prevent too much disruption to schools and every day life. 

Why do the clocks change? 

The principal reason we change the clocks is to get the most out of the daylight. 

The first clock change was introduced by the German government in 1916 during the first world war as a means of saving energy - the longer the daylight hours lasted, the less electricity required. 

What date is summer solstice 2022?

The next summer solstice will take place on Tuesday June 21 2022, marking the longest day of the year.