Seasonal · countdown to 1 January
Fireworks Clock
Bursts of colour over a city skyline, with a live countdown to New Year and the current time underneath. Counts to midnight on 1 January in your own time zone.
Until the New Year
—
Press F for full screen. Motion pauses automatically if your system asks for reduced motion.
New Year
The Countdown Everyone Watches
It Arrives in Waves
Midnight sweeps westward around the globe over twenty-six hours. Kiribati reaches the New Year first and Baker Island last, which means the celebration is not one moment but a rolling sequence of them. This countdown shows yours.
Why 1 January
It is a Roman decision that stuck. Earlier calendars started the year in spring, which is arguably more logical, but the Julian calendar fixed it at 1 January and the Gregorian reform kept it. Several cultures still observe their own new year on other dates.
What Fireworks Are Made Of
The colours come from metal salts. Strontium gives red, barium green, copper blue, sodium yellow and magnesium or aluminium the bright white. Blue is notoriously the hardest to make bright, which is why displays tend to be short of it.
The Delay You Hear
Sound travels roughly a kilometre every three seconds, so a burst two kilometres away is seen six seconds before it is heard. At a big display, counting the gap tells you how far out the barge is.
Under the hood
How This Scene Is Built
Each burst is a single element with twelve coloured shadows arranged in a ring, scaled outward and faded on its own cycle. Ten of them fire at staggered intervals over a CSS skyline, above seventy static stars.
The countdown targets midnight at the start of 1 January in your own time zone and rolls over automatically once the year turns. For any other date, the countdown page takes a custom target and gives you a shareable link.
Answers
Fireworks Background Questions
What is the countdown targeting?
Midnight at the start of 1 January, in your own time zone. Once it passes, the target moves to the following year automatically.
Why does my countdown differ from a friend's abroad?
Because the New Year does not arrive everywhere at once. Midnight travels westward around the world over about twenty-six hours, so each time zone gets its own moment.
What makes firework colours?
Metal salts burning at high temperature. Strontium produces red, barium green, copper blue, sodium yellow, and magnesium or aluminium the bright whites and silvers.
Why is blue rare in firework displays?
The copper compounds that produce blue break down at the temperatures needed to make a bright flame, so blue is both dimmer and harder to achieve than the other colours. Pyrotechnicians treat a good blue as a mark of skill.
Can I use this on a screen at a party?
That is a good use for it. Full screen on a television gives the room a backdrop, and the countdown does the job on the night.