Bask in extra solstice sun (wear lotion)
June 21 has the most daylight
Friday, June 21, at 11:54 a.m. EDT is the summer solstice, the moment the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, an imaginary line that circles the globe. This marks the beginning of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Summer is finally here.
The summer solstice – the precise moment when the sun is at its highest point in the sky each year – is Friday at 11:54 a.m. EDT. It marks the beginning of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
In reality, it has felt like summer for at least three weeks, and meteorologists consider summer the hottest three months of the year (June, July and August).
But the real heat is still to come: On average, there is a one-month lag between the solstice and peak summer temperatures, according to climatologist Brian Brettschneider. That’s why July is almost always the hottest month of the year in most locations.
At 11:54 a.m, Friday, the sun will be directly above the Tropic of Cancer.
That’s the farthest north the sun moves in the sky, which is why the days close to the solstice have the most daylight of the year.
People in Anchorage, Alaska, will get 19 hours of daylight, and those in Seattle and New York City will see more than 15 hours, Brettschneider said. Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta will see more than 14 hours of daylight; Miami and Honolulu will see less than 14 hours.
Some people call it “the longest day,” but to be precise, it’s the day with the most daylight, because every “day” has 24 hours.
The amount of daylight will be consistent for a few more days before shrinking each day until the winter solstice in late December.
Many people around the world celebrate the summer solstice with music and festivities. In England, hundreds of people travel to the ancient site Stonehenge for the first day of summer. Solstice observations there have been going on annually for thousands of years.
Friday is also the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, meaning winter is coming for the 12% of the world’s population that lives there.
The reason we have solstices, equinoxes and seasons is because the Earth is tilted on its axis, thanks to a random collision with another object untold billions of years ago. According to Earthsky.org, Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth every six months as the Earth revolves around the sun.