Summer solstice kicks off the season on June 21

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Despite the summer heat we’ve been experiencing, the season doesn’t actually begin until June 21. The summer solstice will occur at 4:13 AM Tuesday morning. This is the point in the earth’s orbit when the north pole will be tilted the furthest towards the sun, meaning that the sun will appear the furthest north in the sky tomorrow compared to other days of the year.

This is also the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, with 15 hours 22 minutes, and 16 seconds of daylight. However, just because the following days will start getting shorter that doesn’t mean we’ll see our latest sunset on Tuesday! The sunset will actually get a few minutes later through the coming days, with the latest at 8:41 pm on June 25. From there, sunsets will start to come a few seconds earlier.

In the summer months in Madison, our average high temperatures range from the low 80s to start the season, slowly dropping to the low 70s by mid-September.

The weather will have it feeling a whole lot like summer tomorrow! If you’d like to get out to enjoy the few extra seconds of daylight, there are a few events going on around town to celebrate the seasonal milestone.

150 venues in Madison will be celebrating with free, live music performances throughout the day. You can find more information here: https://www.makemusicmadison.org/

Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton will be holding a community picnic where all are welcome for a meal and activities: https://holywisdommonastery.org/summer-solstice-picnic/