--- title: When Does Summer Begin? | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: What is the first day of summer? Depends on who you ask. WeatherBug Meteorologists walk you through the basics of the start of summer. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/When-Does-Summer-Begin og:title: When Does Summer Begin? | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: What is the first day of summer? Depends on who you ask. WeatherBug Meteorologists walk you through the basics of the start of summer. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/When-Does-Summer-Begin og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/4b/4b89821a-4b9a-4085-974f-bd26143736a9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/55a93801-a1dc-4e81-9cae-4333218f6368.png og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: A field of sunflowers near Vineuil in the Loire Valley, France (Wikimedia) og:type: article article:published_time: 2021-06-20T18:13:58Z article:modified_time: 2021-06-20T18:13:58Z article:author: By WeatherBug Meteorologists article:tag: evergreen article:tag: summer article:tag: "summer solstice" twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: When Does Summer Begin? | WeatherBug twitter:description: What is the first day of summer? Depends on who you ask. WeatherBug Meteorologists walk you through the basics of the start of summer. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/4b/4b89821a-4b9a-4085-974f-bd26143736a9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/55a93801-a1dc-4e81-9cae-4333218f6368.png --- [](/weather-forecast/now) [Missing translation for key: backTo forecast](/weather-forecast/now) # When Does Summer Begin? June 20, 2021 at 02:13 PM EDT By WeatherBug Meteorologists  Most people consider the first day of summer to be the summer solstice, which rang in at 11:32 p.m. EDT on June 20 this year. This is because, astronomically, the sun was directly overhead of the Tropic of Cancer at that time. As the Earth rotates around the Sun, at different times of the year the Sun will be situated directly overhead at midday. The day the sun is straight up at noon over the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn (23.5 degrees N and S latitude) are the summer and winter solstices, respectively. The Autumnal (Fall) Equinox is the day the Sun is again highest in the sky at noon over the equator as the apex progresses south. Many refer to astronomical summer on June 20th or 21st, as the first "official" day of summer. Most meteorologists will argue that summer has been well under way by then and they have been enjoying at least three weeks -- if not longer -- of "summer" already. Meteorologists observe seasons over different time periods. Meteorological summer begins on June 1, fall begins September 1 and winter begins December 1\. There are a couple of very important reasons why this is the case. The most important is for climate record-keeping. Climatologists require set time periods to calculate averages and do seasonal comparisons over the years. Astronomical dates will fall on different days depending on the year and keeping seasonal climate records based on those dates would be confusing and inaccurate. A second reason is that weather-wise, it makes more sense around the globe. For example, much of the northern hemisphere is entrenched in summer weather by June 1 and winter weather on December 1\. In fall, the heat of the summer is waning by September 1 and by March 1, spring, mild surges of air from the south are becoming a regular occurrence and the seasonal severe weather threats grows. Image: A field of sunflowers near Vineuil in the Loire Valley, France (Wikimedia) We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/When-Does-Summer-Begin"},"headline":"When Does Summer Begin?","description":"What is the first day of summer? Depends on who you ask. WeatherBug Meteorologists walk you through the basics of the start of summer.","image":["https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/4b/4b89821a-4b9a-4085-974f-bd26143736a9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/55a93801-a1dc-4e81-9cae-4333218f6368.png"],"datePublished":"2021-06-20T18:13:58Z","dateModified":"2021-06-20T18:13:58Z","dateCreated":"2021-06-20T18:13:58Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"evergreen,summer,\"summer solstice\"","articleBody":"Most people consider the first day of summer to be the summer solstice, which rang in at 11:32 p.m. EDT on June 20 this year. This is because, astronomically, the sun was directly overhead of the Tropic of Cancer at that time.
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\r\nAs the Earth rotates around the Sun, at different times of the year the Sun will be situated directly overhead at midday. The day the sun is straight up at noon over the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn (23.5 degrees N and S latitude) are the summer and winter solstices, respectively.
\r\n
\r\nThe Autumnal (Fall) Equinox is the day the Sun is again highest in the sky at noon over the equator as the apex progresses south. Many refer to astronomical summer on June 20th or 21st, as the first \"official\" day of summer.
\r\n
\r\nMost meteorologists will argue that summer has been well under way by then and they have been enjoying at least three weeks -- if not longer -- of \"summer\" already. Meteorologists observe seasons over different time periods. Meteorological summer begins on June 1, fall begins September 1 and winter begins December 1. There are a couple of very important reasons why this is the case. The most important is for climate record-keeping. Climatologists require set time periods to calculate averages and do seasonal comparisons over the years. Astronomical dates will fall on different days depending on the year and keeping seasonal climate records based on those dates would be confusing and inaccurate.
\r\n
\r\nA second reason is that weather-wise, it makes more sense around the globe. For example, much of the northern hemisphere is entrenched in summer weather by June 1 and winter weather on December 1. In fall, the heat of the summer is waning by September 1 and by March 1, spring, mild surges of air from the south are becoming a regular occurrence and the seasonal severe weather threats grows.
\r\n
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