Countdown to
Summer Solstice
The longest day of the year
Today is Summer Solstice.
231 days until Summer Solstice, on Monday, June 21, 2027.
Summer Solstice is Monday, June 21, 2027. Happens the June (summer) solstice (computed astronomically, in UT).
The Summer Solstice is the moment the Sun reaches its highest and most northern point in the sky, handing the Northern Hemisphere its longest day of the year. It falls each year around June 20 or 21 and marks the astronomical beginning of summer, the turning point after which daylight slowly begins to shorten again.
A day the sun stands still
The word solstice comes from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”). Through spring, the noon sun climbs a little higher each day; at the solstice it seems to pause at its peak before reversing course, the apparent standstill that named the day. At this moment the Sun sits directly overhead along the Tropic of Cancer, about 23.5 degrees north of the equator, and everywhere north of the Arctic Circle the sun never fully sets.
People have tracked this turning point for thousands of years. Stonehenge, whose great stone circle was raised more than 4,000 years ago, is aligned so that the midsummer sun rises in line with its outlying Heel Stone, a link that still draws crowds to Salisbury Plain at dawn. Neolithic monuments across Europe share similar solar alignments, evidence that the longest day held deep meaning for the farmers and builders who watched the sky.
Because the calendar year does not match Earth’s orbit exactly, the solstice drifts by a day and leap years nudge it back, which is why it lands on the 20th in some years and the 21st in others.
A timezone note. The solstice is a single instant, and the date shown here is its date in Universal Time (UT). When that instant falls within a few hours of midnight UT, the local calendar date differs: in the Americas it can still be the evening of the previous day, while in East Asia and Australia it can already be the next day. If a printed calendar and this page disagree by a day, that is almost always why.
How the solstice is marked
Across Northern Europe the solstice anchors Midsummer, one of the calendar’s oldest festivals. Sweden and much of Scandinavia raise flower-decked maypoles, wear crowns of greenery, and feast late into the bright evening. Bonfires burn through the short night in countries from Latvia to Spain, a tradition tied to celebrating light at the season’s peak.
Elsewhere the day is quieter but no less noticed. Thousands gather at Stonehenge to watch the sun clear the horizon, a rare occasion when people are allowed to walk among the stones. In the far north, cities celebrate the midnight sun with festivals, late-night baseball, and hikes taken well past midnight. June 21 is also the United Nations’ International Day of Yoga, timed to the solstice’s symbolism of light and renewal.
However you mark it, the Summer Solstice is a fixed point in a moving year: the day the light peaks, and a quiet signal that the long, warm evenings of summer have arrived.
☀️ Fun facts about Summer Solstice
- The word "solstice" comes from the Latin for "sun" and "to stand still," because the noon sun appears to pause at its northernmost point before reversing direction.
- The solstice is a precise instant rather than a whole day: the exact moment the Sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator.
- On the June solstice the Sun stands directly overhead at noon along the Tropic of Cancer, roughly 23.5 degrees north of the equator.
- It is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere and, at the same time, the shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere, where it marks the winter solstice.
- The longest day is not the year's earliest sunrise or latest sunset; those fall a few days before and after the solstice because of Earth's tilt and elliptical orbit.
Upcoming Summer Solstice dates
| Date | Days away |
|---|---|
| 231 days | |
| 596 days | |
| 962 days | |
| 1,327 days | |
| 1,692 days |
How people mark Summer Solstice
- Watching sunrise at Stonehenge
- Lighting Midsummer bonfires
- Maypole dancing and flower crowns
- Late-night feasts in the long daylight
- Midnight sun festivals in the far north
- Solstice yoga gatherings
Frequently asked
What day is the Summer Solstice?
In the Northern Hemisphere it is the June solstice, which lands around June 20 or 21 each year (very occasionally June 22 in some time zones). The date shifts because the calendar year does not match Earth's orbit exactly, so leap years nudge it back and forth.
Why is the Summer Solstice the longest day?
On this date Earth's axis is tilted most directly toward the Sun for the Northern Hemisphere, so the Sun climbs to its highest point in the sky and stays above the horizon longer than on any other day of the year.
Is the Summer Solstice the same as the first day of summer?
It marks the start of astronomical summer, which runs from the June solstice to the September equinox. Meteorological summer is defined differently, beginning on June 1, so the two dates do not line up.
What happens in the Southern Hemisphere on the June solstice?
It is their winter solstice: the shortest day of the year, with the least daylight, as that half of the planet is tilted away from the Sun.