Good Morning on the Longest Day of the Year and the start of Summer
Good Morning on Wednesday 21st June, also known as The summer solstice which is generally understood to mark the first day of summer.
It is cloudy with temperatures of 17°C and southerly 13mph winds. There will be sunny spells all day with a 10% chance of rain and a chance of thunder storms.
Today is the Summer Solstice which means it is the longest day of the year for us. This means it is lighter, longer today than any other day of the year. After today it will get darker two minutes earlier every night.
What is the summer solstice?
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year - the day in which we can enjoy approximately 17 hours of daylight.
It might seem like good news, but for those of us in the northern hemisphere this is the time when the sun's path stops moving northward in the sky and the days begin to slowly shorten.
June 21st marks the Summer Solstice in 2017, when the sun will rise before 4am and won't set until after 10pm.
The shortest day of the year is known as the winter solstice, and occurs between December 20 and 22. This year it is on Thursday, December 21.
What does 'solstice' mean?
The term 'solstice' derives from the Latin word 'solstitium', meaning 'sun standing still'.
Astrologers say the sun seems to 'stand still' at the point on the horizon where it appears to rise and set, before moving off in the reverse direction.
The day marks the ancient middle of summer, even though we haven't had the hottest day.
It has significance for pagans who have always believed that midsummer day holds a special power. Midsummer's eve was believed to be a time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest, and when fairies were though to be at their most powerful.
Stonehenge in Avebury, Wiltshire is the most popular place for Pagans to celebrate the longest day because it famously aligns to the solstices. The rising sun only reaches the middle of the stones one day of the year when it shines on the central alter.
This year, the midsummer solstice is being celebrated at Stonehenge on Saturday into Sunday and at the Avebury stone circle from Friday until Monday.
The English Heritage-run site is expected around 20,000 visitors.
