GREENSBORO, N.C. — June 20 (Thursday) at 4:50 p.m. -- summer will officially start.
But it can be confusing when you hear about the first day of summer and the summer solstice.
Let's clear this up. They are the same thing, but what exactly is a summer solstice?
According to the National Weather Service, the solstice is when the earth is tilted at its maximum towards the sun. For those of us who live in the northern hemisphere - that is Thursday. For the southern hemisphere, Thursday is their winter solstice.
So, Thursday will be the longest day of the year, or in other words, the day with the most sunlight.
The change is gradual leading up to and in the weeks after the summer solstice.
In fact, Thursday will have 14 hours and 36 minutes of daylight while in just two weeks, the daylight totals drop to 14 hours and 32 minutes.
In four weeks, the daylight will be 14 hours and 19 minutes, and by 6 weeks, our days will be nearly 40 minutes shorter than the day of the summer solstice, (38 minutes shorter to be exact).
But of course, if we are tilted more toward the sun, we see our hottest days as well.
Our average, temperature high in June is 88, in July it's 89, and in August it's back to 88.
The bottom line here is that Thursday, June 20 is the longest day of the year and it is ALSO the first day of summer. Enjoy!
MORE WAYS TO GET WFMY NEWS 2
Subscribe to our daily newsletter, Let’s Get 2 It!
Download the WFMY News 2 APP from your Apple or Google Play store.
ADD THE WFMY+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for WFMY.
Amazon Fire TV: Search for WFMY to find the free app to add to your account. You can also add the app directly to your Fire TV through your Amazon account.