The June solstice will take place on the 20th of June; for the Northern Hemisphere it is the longest day and the shortest for the Southern Hemisphere. You can find more details in this article.
The June solstice is a sign to mark the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is winter. It will take place at 21:44 UTC which is 4:44 p.m. CDT June 20th in North America. You can convert UTC to your time. The solstice signifies the start of summer for us in the Northern Hemisphere. Besides, it is the longest day of the whole year. The dawns are early, and the days are very long. While the nights are short, each day the sun reaches its height, as it crosses the sky. In the meantime, winter begins south of the equator.
What does a solstice mean?
Ancient civilizations understood that the direction of the sun across the sky, the duration of daylight, and the sunrise and sunset locations all changed in a regular way during the year.
They made temples to observe the rise of the sun yearly, for instance, Stonehenge.
Today, we understand that the solstice is an astronomical process occurring because of the tilt of Earth on its axis and its rotation in orbit around the sun.
It happens because the Earth doesn’t motion upright. Therefore, our planet is tilted 23 ½ degrees from its axis. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres of Earth trade positions in getting light and warmth from the sun most directly.
Earth is located in its orbit at the June solstice, meaning that the North Pole of our world leans more toward the sun. As we can see from Earth, at noon 23 ½ degrees north of the equator, the sun is at the zenith, at an invisible line surrounding the globe known as the Tropic of Cancer. It is named after Cancer the Crab constellation. This is the farthest point the sun gets north.
During the June solstice, all regions north of the equator have days that are longer than 12 hours. Therefore, all areas south of the equator have days that last less than 12 hours.
When will the solstice happen where I live?
The solstice happens at 21:44 UTC on the 20th of June, which is 4:44 p.m. CDT June 20th in North America.
For all of us, everywhere on Earth, a solstice happens at the same time. You have to convert to your time zone to find the time of the solstice in your area.
This is an example of how to translate it. For all those who use Central Daylight in the central United States, we remove 5 hours from Universal Time. That is the way we get 16:44 (4:44 p.m.) CDT as 2020 June solstice’s time (21:44 UTC on 20th of June minus five is 16:44 – 4:44 p.m.) CDT on June 20.
Where can I see the signals of the solstice in nature?
The answer is simple – everywhere. The most important thing to all creatures living on Earth is the length of the day. Besides, the sun is the primary source of nearly all light and warmth on the surface of Earth.
Those who live in the Northern Hemisphere may see the early dawns and the sunsets that are late, and also the sun’s high arc across the sky. At local noon, it can also be noticed how high the sun rises in the sky. Don’t forget to look at your shadow at noontime as well. It is the shortest noontime shadow of the year during the solstice time.
If you are a person who enjoys the outdoors, then you are familiar with the calm, soothing sensation that comes with these signs of the longest day of the year.
Can we say that the solstice is the first day of summer?
Nobody has defined an official day for the beginning of each new season; various schools of thought or cultures describe the seasons in different ways.
In meteorology, for instance, summer starts on June 1st. And children know that summer starts on the last day of school for the year.
However, the 21st of June might be the most universally accepted day on which summer starts in the Northern Hemisphere and on which winter starts in the Southern Hemisphere. In fact, this is unofficial but it is an old tradition that we all consider it to be so.
It has been commonly known among people to cherish this time of light and warmth.
For us in the world today, the solstice is a moment to acknowledge the respect and appreciation that early humans had for the sky. Around 5,000 years ago in a place we now know as England, people put very big stones in a circle on a large plain and aligned them with the sunrise of the June solstice.
We might never understand the true importance of Stonehenge. However, we are sure that knowledge of this kind wasn’t restricted to only one part of our world. At about the same period Stonehenge was being built in England, the Sphinx and two great pyramids were constructed on the sands of Egypt. During the summer solstice, if you stood at the Sphinx and stared at the two pyramids, you would see the sun fall precisely between them.
Why is it hotter later in the summer, if the longest day is in June?
People usually ask: Why do we encounter the hottest temperatures in late July and August if the longest day is during the June solstice?
This occurrence is called the seasons lag. It is the same cause that at mid-afternoon it is hotter than at noontime. After a cold winter, Earth just needs some time to warm up. Also in June, some areas are still covered in snow and ice. This is how we experience the extreme heat of the summer – the sun melts the ice and therefore warms the oceans.
Since spring started, ice and snow have been melting. On top of glaciers, the rainwater and meltwater percolate down through the snow. But the drainage from glaciers will be bigger in another month than it is now, although the sun is directly striking the northern hemisphere most around this time.
Wait for one month and you will experience the hottest weather. It will arrive as the days start shortening again, and as Earth proceeds to move around the sun in orbit, taking us closer to another winter.
And then the cycle goes on.
To sum up, this year’s solstice takes place on the 20th of June 2020 at 21:44 UTC, which is 4:44 p.m. CDT in North America. It marks the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but also the northernmost point of the sun in Earth’s sky. It is a phenomenon that people have appreciated ever since the old ages, much like the retrograde of planets.