Summer begins at 6:07 a.m. Thursday, June 21. That's the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, with 15 hours, 2 minutes and 39 seconds on daylight.
That's all astronomically speaking, because meteorologists base their seasons on months and temperature cycle, which gives them a first day of summer on June 1.
And, of course, temperatures this week have ignored all of that and given us mid-summer 90s in advance of June 21.
Regardless of when summer officially arrives, days will begin growing shorter June 22. That process will continue right through the winter solstice on Friday, December 21, the shortest day of the year.
As it does every year, Slooh.com will mark the moment of the June solstice with live views of the Sun through the solar telescope at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, beginning at 6 a.m. June 21. The event will be hosted by Paul Cox, Slooh's observatory director and chief astronomical officer.
Why does a solstice launch summer, when an equinox began spring?
While our removed-from-nature existence looks to a manmade calendar to reveal the change of the seasons, the natural world is experiencing change from much more reality-based events.
A solstice happens when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly points in the sky. Here, in the northern hemisphere, summer begins when that northerly mark is reached and winter begins when that southerly mark arrives.
At the equinox, the tilt of the Earth is zero relative to the Sun, and the northern and southern hemispheres receive about equal amounts of the Sun's rays. For someone standing on the equator, the Sun would pass directly overhead on the equinox.
Summer and will begin at the solstice, while spring and fall begin at the equinox.
And, here's some folklore and legend about the summer solstice:
- Winds blowing from the east May 19-21 portend a dry summer.
- Falling stars on a clear summer evening foretell the coming of thunder.
- When the birds of summer gather, the summer too prepares to depart.
- Rain on Midsummer's Eve (June 24 this year) will doom the nut crop for the year.
- Herbs gathered on Midsummer's Eve are the most potent of the year.
- Midsummer's Eve holds most promise for sighting a fairy. Trolls and evil nature spirits are said to be out and about that night.
- Ancient Druids believed the summer solstice marked the marriage of the Earth and the heavens, which was the origin of the belief that June weddings are lucky.
- An egg is easier to stand on end on a flat surface on the summer solstice.