Just because it’s 85 degrees in the shade and you’ve been wearing shorts since April, that doesn’t mean summer is here yet.
This year, the first day of summer is Wednesday, June 21. Barely. It officially arrives at 12:24 a.m. in the Eastern time zone (EST), which means that most of us will probably snooze right through the precise moment when bathing suits and banana daiquiris become absolutely de rigueur for the next few months.
Not only that, but the Summer of 2017 will actually start the night before for folks in other parts of the country!
Here’s everything essential to know about the first day of summer:
It goes by several other names as well: Officially, what's happening in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning is the "Summer Solstice." That's the moment when the earth's tilt toward the sun is at its maximum -- and the moment when scientists and astronomers say summer begins. Because the sun is at its highest point in the sky then, the summer solstice also results in the longest one-day period of daylight all year. Hence, another name for it: "Most of us know that (as) the 'longest day'" of the year, the U.S. Naval Observatory says.
Related video: These pool pups know how to do summer the right way
The date varies from year-to-year: If it sometimes feels like summer takes longer to get here, well, you're not necessarily wrong. In different years the solstice occcurs anytime from June 20 to June 22 -- among the factors affecting the date are "the gravitational pull from the Moon and planets, as well as the slight wobble in Earth's rotation," the Farmers Almanac reports. The summer solstice also will be on June 21 in 2018 and 2019, but mark your calendars now for 2020! That's when the solstice -- and hence the first day of summer -- next officially arrives on June 20.
This year, summer "starts" on different days in different parts of the U.S.: Because of time zone differences, the first day of summer actually arrives the night before in this year in places like Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. On Tuesday, June 20, the solstice occurs at 11:24 p.m. in the Central time zone, 10:24 p.m. in the Mountain zone and 9:24 p.m. in the Pacific time zones.
Credit: Tom Stromme
Credit: Tom Stromme
Winter is coming: No sooner does the Summer Solstice arrive than the Winter Solstice begins to beckon on the (cold) horizon. The day with the fewest hours of sunlight in the entire year (aka the "shortest day," aka the first day of winter), it arrives at 11:28 a.m. EST on Dec. 21, 2017. In between, the so-called "length of days" -- the time between sunrise and sunset -- will constrict in tiny, yet undeniable increments. Here in Atlanta, the first day of summer, June 21, will be 14 hours, 23 minutes long, according to the Farmers Almanac. A month later, on July 21, the day will be just 14:02 hours long. And so on, until it drops to -- shudder -- a mere 9:54 minutes on the first day of winter, Dec. 21.
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