Summer is fast approaching, and if you’re like me, you’re looking forward to warm temperatures, sunshine and being outside.
We’ve had our fair share of summery heat already this year in Syracuse. Even though it has felt like summer, it’s actually still spring.
Memorial Day Weekend is labeled as the unofficial start to summer, while meteorologists consider June 1 as the start to summer. However, the official first day of summer is actually about three weeks later, 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 at 10:57 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21.
This occurs when the sun is at its highest and northernmost points in the sky. You’ll 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.
In the Northern Hemisphere, where we live, the summer solstice is the day with the most hours of sunlight of the entire year. This year, we’ll experience 15 hours and 22 minutes of daylight.
The sunrise time in Syracuse on June 21 is 5:25 a.m., and the sunset is at 8:47 p.m. Once the summer solstice occurs, the length of daylight decreases with each passing day.
By Labor Day (Sept. 4), what is considered the unofficial end to summer, the sunset time in Syracuse is 7:34 p.m. By that point, we are down to about 13 hours and 2 minutes of daylight (but let’s not think about that right now).
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