First Day of Summer 21 June – Find out more

by Patrick Altoft on / 45 responses

Today is June 21st which means that not only is it the official first day of summer but it’s the Summer Solstice too.

This means that it is the day with the longest hours of daylight in the Northern hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern.

Solstices occur twice a year, when the tilt of the earth is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes.

Apparently the name is derived from the Latin sol and sistere, because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, its apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill.

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.

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Comments

Read the 43 comments below, or add your own!

June 21, 2008 at 4:25am

Thanks for this post.

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June 21, 2008 at 5:49am

And the number 1 search term in google trends for today is…. :P

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June 21, 2008 at 6:31am

yesterday was the hottest day this year in Hong Kong…

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Rob
June 21, 2008 at 9:25am

Interestingly since this is the longest day, and the astronomical beginning of Summer, spring has as many long days as summer.

Rob
Perfume Point

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June 21, 2008 at 9:57am

I LOVE THE SUN REALLY ITS NICE AND WOUM

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Kitty
June 21, 2008 at 10:17am

Actually the 20th (Friday), not the 21st was the Summer Solstice this year, due to 2008 being a leap year. NIce explanation though :)

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fiona
June 21, 2008 at 10:49am

It looks like the dullest day in Belfast its rainning :( Not a good start to summer…..

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Peter Poolman
June 21, 2008 at 10:49am

And today Holland is going to kick ass in the quarter finals :P

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June 21, 2008 at 10:55am

Don’t be daft. It isn’t the first day of summer. Midsummer’s day is only a couple of days away!

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Shain McLeod
June 21, 2008 at 12:25pm

Well its cold wet and cloudy here in Coalville, Leicestershire lol so much for the first day of summer.

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Colin Milne
June 21, 2008 at 12:58pm

If 21 June is the first day of Summer and 24 June is Midsummer’s day, does that mean that Summer ends on 27Jun?

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israel
June 21, 2008 at 1:08pm

the beginning of the summer!???
Well, not in UK!! LOL
We have a horrible weather over here!!:(

Cheers and thanks for the post

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anon
June 21, 2008 at 1:08pm

ha! and it’s raining in birmingham, england :(

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June 21, 2008 at 1:12pm

it might be be the first dai of summer but it isnt reely its like pouring with rain and dull!!

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June 21, 2008 at 1:18pm

And it is raining here in Hawick – Scotland : (

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Sally
June 21, 2008 at 1:34pm

Does this mean it will rain for the rest of the summer !! as we have had rain ALL day

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June 21, 2008 at 2:25pm

how come it is a bad cloudy day in central london then how come it is the first of summer today?

could someone please tell me why and please send me a satellite picture of the earth tilting it will be very great

thanks

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June 21, 2008 at 2:31pm

first day of summer and its raining in the U.K… :-(

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James
June 21, 2008 at 2:41pm

well over here in repton, derbyshire its not lookin very summery at all!!!

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hollie
June 21, 2008 at 3:15pm

hi i love love summer and it time to enjoy

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Emily
June 21, 2008 at 3:23pm

No offence first day of summer and its bludy freeezing over in england :( .
ahh well hope it gets beta :D x x

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Alan
June 21, 2008 at 3:46pm

first day of summer in england ( raining heaily!!!)

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June 21, 2008 at 4:49pm

start of summer , dont seem so, waitin all year for summer but this time its too late.

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Conrad
June 21, 2008 at 4:55pm

Congratulations. This post should drive a fair amount of traffic.

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June 21, 2008 at 5:20pm

I wish it was hot here today! lol.

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Barry
June 21, 2008 at 6:06pm

The summer solstice is otherwise known as midsummer, NOT “the first day of summer”. If we accept that the seasons consist of 3 months each, then summer begins about 6 weeks BEFORE the solstice/midsummer; that is, around 10th May.

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June 21, 2008 at 6:10pm

SUMMER, BUT WAS RAINING, AND NOW IT IS VERY COLD :(

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June 21, 2008 at 6:12pm

SUMMER, BUT TODAY WAS RAINING AND NOW IT IS VERY COLD :(

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Mike
June 21, 2008 at 6:15pm

Yeah, first day of summer and guess what? It’s raining here in England :| . lol

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Dimitri Vinogradov
June 21, 2008 at 7:53pm

How CAN the longest day of the year possibly be the first day of summer? Surely it’s the middle of summer, with days with long hours of daylight distributed evenly both sides of the longest day.

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Aimee
June 21, 2008 at 8:37pm

Haha , yeah summer , right now in england it’s 20:37 and it’s bucketing it down , Some summber this is going to be!

Crummy!

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Aimee
June 21, 2008 at 8:38pm

HAHAHAHA

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Ian Gordon
June 21, 2008 at 9:24pm

I always thought pre Christian peoples- like the Celts, celebrated the start of Summer in May- with the festival of Belatane.

I also hear on Classic FM this morning- that Midsummer’s Day is celebrated on the 24th June…

Typical artsy ‘Historian’, confusing the issue..;-)

Thanks for posting.

Ian

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Taposhi
June 21, 2008 at 9:40pm

Thanks for sharing that very useful piece of news!

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June 21, 2008 at 9:45pm

but we already felt heat in April, so what does it mean First Day of Summer? i didn’t get it, summer start in April or June?

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June 22, 2008 at 10:13am

It wasn’t so nice here in Bath today!

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Gav
June 23, 2008 at 8:48am

I’d just like to say, that midwinters day down here in Sydney was beautiful and I went sunbathing on Coogee Beach for the day.

Seems better than mid-summers back in Blighty by all accounts!

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June 23, 2008 at 5:47pm

Looks like we’re about to have a great summer. (YEAH RIGHT) lol.

Today is slightly better but not as good as we expected.

I suppose it never is in the UK. Especially where we are, in the Northwest.

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July 6, 2008 at 4:27pm

Oh well, I guess we’ll have to wait for this day next year now, because the weather here in Manchester never got much better.

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Dave Hitchborne
July 14, 2008 at 1:21am

If the first day of summer is the 21st June and midsummer’s day is the 24th June, then summer is only 8 days long. Sounds about right to me considering the temperatures we had.

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November 27, 2008 at 5:45pm

Hi all,

We have not has much summer this year again. Why does this keep happening to us in the UK.

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jodie
June 21, 2009 at 11:31am

wikid

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jodie
June 21, 2009 at 11:32am

it is not really sunni now though lol

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