Summer is almost officially here.
The June summer solstice, which marks the official start of the season and the longest day of the year, will take place on Wednesday.
Here’s what you should know:
WHEN IS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER?
The summer solstice occurs at 10:58 a.m. ET (9:58 a.m. CT) on Wednesday, June 21.
On that date, the city of Chicago will see 15 hours, 13 minutes, and 41 seconds of daylight, and sunset will occur just before 8:30 p.m.
WHAT IS THE SUMMER SOLSTICE?
The summer solstice is the time when the sun reaches its highest and northernmost points in the sky, according to Farmer’s Almanac.
It is also known as the day with the longest period of sunlight, or the longest day of the year, for those in the Northern Hemisphere.
While the solstice doesn’t occur at the same time every year, it generally falls anytime between June 20 and 22.
It is considered to be the first day of summer in astronomical terms, although meteorological summer technically began at the beginning of the month.
On the contrary, the winter solstice, which will take place on December 21 of this year, will mark the beginning of winter.
“The arc of the Sun has been rising in the sky each day since the winter solstice, which occurred in Chicago on December 21, 2022,” reports Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. “As the Sun’s arc increases, the daylight hours become longer. At the summer solstice, the Sun’s arc stops increasing. After that point, the Sun’s arc will appear lower each day and the hours It will gradually shorten. It will continue to increase low each day until December 21, the winter solstice of 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere.”
Temperatures are expected to hover in the high 90s with heat indices of 100 to 105 degrees. A heat advisory was issued by the National Weather Service from noon to 7 pm for La Porte counties in Indiana and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin.
WHY IS IT CALLED SOLSTICE?
According to Adler, the word solstice “means that the arc of the Sun, or Sol, stops in the sky.”
The word has a Latin origin, coming from solstitium – sol, which means sun, and stitium, which means “still or stopped”, reports the Almanac.
RISES AND SUNSETS DURING THE SUMMER SOLSTICE
While the solstice marks the day with the most sunlight, it does not mark the date of the earliest sunrise or latest sunset.
In Chicago, the earliest sunrise, which usually occurs before the solstice, was seen in early June.
However, the last sunset is yet to come.
But, according to the Almanac, the sun will set more slowly around the solstice, which means it “takes longer to set below the horizon.”
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT?
As the summer solstice approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, NASA scientists say a busy period of solar events will begin, with eclipses and a host of other phenomena.
There will be not one, but two solar eclipses in the next 12 months, and both will be at least partially visible from the Midwest.
First will take place on October 14, 2023. While a total eclipse will occur in parts of the southwestern United States, a partial eclipse will also be seen in the Midwest, with approximately 50% coverage over western Illinois and slightly less coverage over parts of the Chicago area. .
The main event from an eclipse perspective will take place on April 8 of next year, with a total solar eclipse visible across a wide swath of the Midwest. While that won’t take place in Chicago, much of Indiana, including Indianapolis, will see the total eclipse, which will last for several minutes during the evening hours.
More here.
Finally, NASA says that the sun is reaching the peak of an 11-year solar cycle, which could cause a variety of impacts in the coming months.
Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field changes. These spins can cause dramatic changes in activity on the sun’s surface, with solar flares and coronal mass ejections potentially impacting Earth in a variety of ways.
The Northern Lights can become more pronounced and visible in new places during those times, and radio communications and even power grids can be affected on Earth.
