Summer begins at 6:34 p.m. on the East Coast, when the sun reaches it’s highest point, marking the year’s longest day, The Associated Press noted. The December Solstice takes place around December 21.
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The name is derived from the Latin word, solstitium, which means “sun stands still”.
Specifically, the summer solstice is the moment when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer. What’s the difference? The official start is tied to the position of the sun.
It hasn’t happened in almost 70 years but it will happen today! In 1948, the events were only 43 minutes apart.
The June solstice can occur anytime between June 20 and 22. This is the first time the two astronomical events have lined up since 1967.
In Ireland the Hill of Tara is the location most associated with the solstice, where hundreds still gather each year, over the five days of the solstice, to mark the event. She will pull from the archives to talk about some of the rituals that are celebrated at summer’s start.
If you want to be pedantic about it, the summer solstice isn’t really the whole day. But it’s the opposite.
The further north someone is located, the more sunlight they receive during the summer solstice. In fact, the Earth will be on its Aphelion a few weeks after the June Solstice.
Some online calculators can help you figure out when sunrise and sunset will happen in your area. Usually, there are only three full moons in one season (between an equinox and solstice, or vice versa), but sometimes there are four.
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The Climate Prediction Center’s latest forecast for the remainder of summer is for warmer-than-average temperatures for most of the USA.
