~ The time of the year with early dawns, long days, late sunsets, and short nights ~
Some cultures call it the beginning of summer; other cultures call it Mid-Summer or MidSömer. Whatever you call it, we in the Northern Hemisphere know that Summer Solstice is the signal to celebrate warm weather, sunshine, and long leisurely days. The solstice takes place this year on June 20, at 22:34 Greenwich Mean Time. That’s 5:34pm here on The Friendly Island.
For everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, that is the top half of our planet, the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. The sun is at its height each day, as it crosses the sky. Meanwhile, south of the equator, winter begins. We are, indeed, in the Northern Hemisphere, but the southerly geographic location of St. Maarten means we are fairly close to the equator, which lessens the effect of the Solstice. Even a bit farther north, the length of days changes quite dramatically.
It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light. Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments, such as Stonehenge, to follow the sun’s yearly progress. Not only humans but all of Earth’s creatures are aware of the length of the day. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of almost all light and warmth on Earth’s surface.
Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun. All locations north of the equator have days longer than 12 hours at the June solstice. Meanwhile, all locations south of the equator have days shorter than 12 hours. This is because the Earth doesn’t orbit the sun in an upright position, but instead is tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly.
At the June solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that our world’s North Pole is tilted toward the sun. If you are standing anywhere on the earth at the 23½ degrees north latitude on the summer solstice (at an imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Cancer – named after the constellation of Cancer, the Crab) you will find the sun is directly overhead at noon. This marks the farthest extent north that the sun ever gets, by the day after the solstice the Earth-Sun arrangement is such that the sun ‘appears’ to travel back towards the south.
A solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. If you’re a person who appreciates nature, you are probably aware of some of the signs of the seasons’ passing. If you want to really see the evidence of the summer solstice, or the fall equinox, the winter solstice or the spring equinox, start by noticing the location of the sun at dawn and at sunsets, and be sure to look at your noontime shadow. At the time of the solstice, you’ll have your shortest noontime shadow of the year.
Because of an effect called “the lag of the seasons,” the summer solstice is not the hottest time of the year, generally that is in August. Earth just takes a while to warm up after a long winter. Even in June, some places in the Northern Hemisphere will still have ice and snow on the ground. It takes time for the sun to melt the ice – and warm the oceans – and then we feel the most sweltering summer heat.
So wait another month or two for the hottest weather. It’ll come when the days are already beginning to shorten again, as Earth continues to move in orbit around the sun, bringing us closer to another winter.
And so the cycle continues.
