Minor Snow小雪

Minor Snow (小雪, Xiǎo Xuě) is the twentieth of the twenty-four solar terms, sitting at the midpoint of the 亥 month that Beginning of Winter opened two weeks earlier. It is an astronomical instant: the moment the sun reaches 240° of ecliptic longitude, landing on 22 or 23 November depending on the year.

As with Beginning of Winter's name, this one promises less than it delivers everywhere at once: it names the point where light, occasional snowfall becomes possible across much of northern China, not a guarantee of snow for every reader in every latitude the term is discussed in.

Astronomically it sits between Beginning of Winter and Major Snow, deep enough into the season that the sun's arc is low and days are near their shortest. In the agricultural calendar it traditionally marks the point where outdoor field work has largely wound down and the year's stores are what carry a household through the cold months ahead.

Minor Snow is a 氣 — a mid-month term — so it changes no pillar. This site's engine confirms the general pattern across a full year's scan: the twelve month pillar switches in 2026 land only on the twelve 節, and this term is not one of them.

A birth at this instant still carries the 亥 month pillar that Beginning of Winter opened, exactly as a birth a week earlier or later in the same month would. The term names a position in the season, not a new boundary in the chart.