Summer is fast approaching and if you’re like me, you’re looking forward to warmth, sunshine, and being outside.

Memorial Day weekend has been labeled as the unofficial start to the summer season, while meteorologists consider June 1st as the start to the summer season. However, the official first day of summer is actually about three weeks later occurring on June 21. This day is known as the summer solstice and on this day the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. The earth is actually farthest from the sun during this time of year.

The solstice is an event that happens twice per year, once in summer and once in winter. This year the summer solstice occurs on Friday June 21 at 11:54 a.m. This occurs when the sun is at its highest and northernmost points in the sky. You’ll actually notice that your shadow (at noon) is the shortest it will be all year because the sun is highest in the sky on this day. Try it out!

In the Northern Hemisphere (where we live), the summer solstice is the day with the most hours of sunlight of the whole year. On this day this year, we’ll experience 15 hours and 23 minutes of daylight. The sunrise time in Rochester on June 21 is 5:30 a.m. and the sunset is at 8:53 p.m. Once the summer solstice occurs, the length of daylight will start to gradually go down with each passing day.

By Labor Day, what is considered the unofficial end to summer, the sunset time in Rochester is 7:43 p.m. By that point, we are down to 13 hours and 8 minutes of daylight (but let’s not think about that right now). Have a happy, healthy, fun, and great summer!