WSET.com - ABC13Summer Solstice by Lyndsay Tapases

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated the Summer Solstice, which for most, comes as a welcome to the official beginning of the summer season. But others may also feel slight disappointment in the fact that we have surpassed the longest day of the year, and from now on, the days will only be getting shorter.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice occurs when the earth's axis is tilted towards the sun at its maximum degree. Although this actually occurs at only an instant in time (yesterday it was 1:16pm) we typically refer to the solstice as the entire day on which this occurs, and the "longest day of the year." It is also the day on which the sun appears highest in the sky.

There is a common misconception that following the solstice, since the days will be getting shorter, the sun must be setting earlier. Luckily, this is not necessarily true. Since day length is defined as the hours of daylight, it takes into consideration both the sunrise and sunset. So although day length will be getting shorter, for the next week or so, the sunset is actually going to be getting later. It will be the later sunrise that will make for a shorter day length overall.

In addition, the day length down to the minute doesn't even shorten until June 28th. Both yesterday and today, and through June 27th, the day length will be 14 hours and 44 minutes. Come June 28th, this drops down to 14 hours and 43 minutes. However, the sunset will still be getting later. The latest the sun will set at our latitude and longitude is 8:42pm, and this occurs from June 28th-July1st. So up until then, we will be losing the extra daylight in the morning, not the evening, when we tend to notice it more and it matters more anyway.