Summer has arrived

News & Press: Natural world

31 May 2021 (0 Comments)

Share |

In meteorological terms, 1 June is the beginning of Summer in the northern hemisphere.

Meteorologists define northern Summer as the months of June, July and August; but many consider that Summer starts at the Summer Solstice - this year at 0332 UTC on Monday 21 June, when the Sun reaches its most northerly latitude of 23º 26.1’.

The Sun will leave the northern hemisphere at the Autumnal Equinox - 1921 UTC on 22 September, when it returns to the southern hemisphere.

And British Summer Time (BST) will cease at 0100 UTC on 31 October, in compliance with an EU directive of 2002, which states that ‘Summer Time’ will be observed between the last Sundays in March and October, clocks to change at 0100 UTC (this assumes that UK continues to comply with that directive).

Further details from the Royal Observatory