Monday, June 20

            The last day of spring.  Tomorrow is the longest day (daylight wise from sunrise to sunset) of the year.  The summer solstice arrives June 21 at 12:16 p.m. central time in the Northern Hemisphere.  It’s the official beginning of summer for the Earth north of the equator (it arrives in December south of the equator).  The Earth’s axis is at its greatest tilt toward the sun at 23 degrees 26 inches and so the northern hemisphere is at its greatest exposure of the year to the sun as the Earth rotates around.  Solstice is from two Latin words that combined mean sun stands still to describe how the sun is at its highest point of the year at noon on this day and seems to “stand still”.