SUMMER OFFICIALLY ARRIVES
on the North Olympic Peninsula on Monday at 4:28 a.m., the instant the Northern Hemisphere reaches the summer solstice.
Though the summer solstice lasts only an instant, the term is sometimes used to refer to the full day and night on the day of the event — the so-called longest day of the year because of the maximum daylight.
Depending on the shift of the calendar, the summer solstice always occurs above the equator between June 20 and 23 each year.
The solstice occurs when the sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance from the equatorial plane; in other words, if the sun appears on the North Olympic Peninsula on Monday — click on the AccuWeather link at the upper right corner of the home page for Monday’s latest weather forecast in your town — Old Sol will appear to be at its highest point of the year.
Conversely, tonight marks the winter solstice south of the equator. People there — such as the players in the World Cup in South Africa — will experience their shortest daylight period of the year.