Summertime, summertime — what it means meteorologically

Sunday, June 20, was the first official day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our “astronomical summer,” also known as the June Solstice and the Summer Solstice, began when the sun reached its highest point in the sky. This is the time of year when we also have the highest number of daylight hours.

On the first day of summer in Coeur d’Alene, there were 15 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds between the rise and set of the sun, our longest day of the year.

Today, our days begin to get shorter, but we really won’t notice much of a difference for at least a month. Compared to Sunday, our time of daylight dropped by 1 second. However, at the end of the month, we’ll lose close to 4 minutes of daylight daily.

Our planet is tilted on its axis approximately 23.5 degrees. At this time of year, the sun will be directly overhead at 23.5 degrees North latitude, which is known as the Tropic of Cancer.

On the first day of fall and the first day of spring, the sun will be over the Equator. On the first day of winter, that will be our shortest day as we’ll only have about 8 hours and 25 minutes of daylight.

By contrast, the sun will be directly overhead in the Southern Hemisphere at 23.5 degrees South latitude, the Tropic of Capricorn, which is its first day of summer.

By the way, most meteorologists and climatologists break down the seasons into groups of three months. This system actually makes it easier for scientists and forecasters to calculate monthly and seasonal statistics.

For example, the meteorological summer includes June, July and August and the meteorological seasons are primarily based upon annual temperature cycles.

Anyone within the Arctic Circle above 66.5 degrees at this time of year will get at least one full day when the sun does not set. In other words, there is continuous daylight for 24 hours. This is known as the “midnight sun” and is seen across the northern regions of Canada, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Greenland, Russia and Alaska.

In the far northern regions near the North Pole, unless there are clouds, some locations will see continuous sunlight for at least 60 days.

Many people will take advantage of the longer daylight hours. There are festivals, baseball games, golf tournaments and other fun activities that will take place around midnight.

On the first day of fall in late September, also known as the Autumnal Equinox, everyone will receive 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, including those above the Arctic Circle. By late this year around the first day of winter, conditions will reverse as residents above 66.5 degrees North latitude will see at least one full day of continuous darkness.

According to research published in the Cambridge University Press in March 1998, approximately one-third of women and one-fifth of men experience problems with their sleep, moods or energy levels during the periods of extended daylight and darkness. Most of the issues with sleep occur during the winter.

Despite the problems with sleep, many seem to handle the conditions very well as reports of depression were very low, even during the winter with very little sunlight.

LOCAL WEATHER

In terms of our local weather, we did receive some welcome showers last week. The same system also triggered a few thunderstorms across the region.

Approximately .50 inches of rain has fallen at Cliff’s station for this month as of late Saturday. Our normal precipitation for June is 1.93 inches, so we’re only around 26 percent of normal.

At Spokane International Airport, a thunderstorm last week pushed its June total to .43 inches, about 66 percent of normal. However, about 4.80 inches of moisture has fallen since Jan. 1, compared to a normal of around 9 inches.

There’s a chance we could see a few scattered showers or thunderstorms at the end of the month, but it looks like we’re going to have consecutive months with below-normal moisture in Coeur d’Alene and the Inland Empire.

Last summer, from June 20 through Sept. 21, only 1.37 inches of rain fell at Cliff’s station in northwestern Coeur d’Alene. It was well below normal as last summer was one of the driest in history.

Cliff and I don’t believe that this season will be as dry as the one last year. However, moisture totals are still expected to be below normal through July. We also think conditions in August should start to turn wetter than normal. The average rainfall for August is 1.23 inches and we only managed to see .12 inches in August 2020.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com