The summer solstice is tomorrow! Tuesday, June 21, marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s also going to be a very hot day, with temperatures rising into the upper 90’s (here in Georgia, at least) by mid-afternoon. While it won’t be the hottest day of the summer, to be sure, it’s worth mentioning that you might want to be wherever air conditioning is for the rest of the week.

While the summer solstice marks the “longest day” in our hemisphere, the expression really means that June 21 is the day with the most amount of sunlight.

The word solstice is a combination of the Latin word sol for “sun” and sistere for “stand still”. It’s the point where the sun reaches the highest point in the sky, giving it the appearance of standing still.

We get solstices like this one twice a year, however. December 22 will mark the winter solstice, which means we’ll have the “shortest” day of the astronomical year, when the sun reaches the lowest point in the sky and again appears to stand still.

These solstices are not to be confused with the Spring and Fall equinoxes, either. In March and September, respectively, these dates reflect when the sun is positioned exactly above the equator, which makes our days and nights an equal length.

Around the world, the summer solstice usually marks the beginning of summer (at least on the astronomical calendar). We know from these record heat waves, however, that our summer has already begun.

Tomorrow morning, the sun will rise around 6:30 AM and will not set until nearly 9 PM, so be sure to make the most of that “extra” daylight in the evening. (I know I’ll be spending it beneath the A/C to keep cool!)

(Feature Photo by Patrick on Unsplash)