First Day of Summer 21 June – Find out more
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.


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Thanks for this post.
And the number 1 search term in google trends for today is….
yesterday was the hottest day this year in Hong Kong…
Interestingly since this is the longest day, and the astronomical beginning of Summer, spring has as many long days as summer.
Rob
Perfume Point
I LOVE THE SUN REALLY ITS NICE AND WOUM
Actually the 20th (Friday), not the 21st was the Summer Solstice this year, due to 2008 being a leap year. NIce explanation though
It looks like the dullest day in Belfast its rainning
Not a good start to summer…..
And today Holland is going to kick ass in the quarter finals
Don’t be daft. It isn’t the first day of summer. Midsummer’s day is only a couple of days away!
Well its cold wet and cloudy here in Coalville, Leicestershire lol so much for the first day of summer.
If 21 June is the first day of Summer and 24 June is Midsummer’s day, does that mean that Summer ends on 27Jun?
the beginning of the summer!???
Well, not in UK!! LOL
We have a horrible weather over here!!:(
Cheers and thanks for the post
ha! and it’s raining in birmingham, england
it might be be the first dai of summer but it isnt reely its like pouring with rain and dull!!
And it is raining here in Hawick – Scotland : (
Does this mean it will rain for the rest of the summer !! as we have had rain ALL day
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
first day of summer and its raining in the U.K…
well over here in repton, derbyshire its not lookin very summery at all!!!
hi i love love summer and it time to enjoy
No offence first day of summer and its bludy freeezing over in england
.
x x
ahh well hope it gets beta
first day of summer in england ( raining heaily!!!)
start of summer , dont seem so, waitin all year for summer but this time its too late.
Congratulations. This post should drive a fair amount of traffic.
I wish it was hot here today! lol.
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.
SUMMER, BUT WAS RAINING, AND NOW IT IS VERY COLD
SUMMER, BUT TODAY WAS RAINING AND NOW IT IS VERY COLD
Yeah, first day of summer and guess what? It’s raining here in England
. lol
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.
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!
HAHAHAHA
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
Thanks for sharing that very useful piece of news!
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?
It wasn’t so nice here in Bath today!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Hi all,
We have not has much summer this year again. Why does this keep happening to us in the UK.
wikid
it is not really sunni now though lol
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