What the summer solstice means for the rest of the world

Did Sunday seem to go on forever?

It kind of did. June 20 was this year’s summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

In Cedar Rapids, the sun was in the sky for a total of 15 hours, 14 minutes and 20 seconds.

During the summer solstice, the sun travels its longest path across the sky. According to Britannica, the longer summer days are a result of the earth’s axis’ tilt toward the sun.

In fact, the sun never sets in the summer in the Arctic Circle. Parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia are in daylight 24 hours a day for months!

Parts of the Antarctic Circle, meanwhile, never see the sun this time of year.

After the summer solstice, the days start to slowly get shorter. This will happen incrementally, or in small pieces, over the next few months.

On Monday, for example, the amount of sunshine in Cedar Rapids will last just milliseconds less than it lasted Sunday.

Our daylight will slowly shrink every day until the winter solstice. That marks the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, which this year is December 21.

On that day, the sun will be in the sky for little more than nine hours in Cedar Rapids — and it won’t appear at all in the Arctic Circle. After the winter solstice, the days will slowly start to get longer once again.

Comments: molly.duffy@thegazette.com