Summer Solstice Info

If you feel like the days have been getting longer, you certainly are not wrong!

We are just 10 days away from this year's summer solstice, which will officially happen on June 20 at 5:43 p.m. eastern time. Scientifically speaking, the summer solstice occurs when the earth's north pole has its maximum tilt towards the sun. For us in the northern hemisphere, this is the day of the calendar year when we receive the most hours of daylight.

This image nicely displays the process that occurs on the summer solstice:

Summer Solstice Diagram (timeanddate.com)

That dashed line that you see in the image goes from the sun directly to the Tropic of Cancer, which receives direct sunlight on the summer solstice. The Tropic of Cancer is located at a latitude of approximately 23.5 °N.

For us in CT, the sun will rise at 5:18 a.m. and set at 8:30 p.m. on the summer solstice.

In Burlington, VT, the sun will rise at 5:08 a.m. and set at 8:41 p.m. on the solstice.

The slightly longer hours of daylight in VT is due to its further north latitude. The days will continue to get longer for the next ten days, and then the days will gradually get shorter as we head back towards fall and winter!