Summer is upon us

News & Press: Natural world

30 May 2023 (0 Comments)

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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 astronomical Summer starts at the Summer Solstice - this year at 1457 UTC on 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 - 0650 UTC on 23 September, when it returns to the south.

And British Summer Time (BST) will cease at 0100 UTC on 29 October, in compliance with an EU directive of 2002, which stated 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