Summer has officially begun.
The summer solstice kicked in at 6:07 a.m. Thursday, making June 21 the longest day of 2018 for anyone living north of the equator.
That doesn’t mean the day is more than 24 hours long. It means the time from sunrise to sunset is the longest it will be for the entire year.
In London, the sun rose just after 5:45 a.m. and will set just after 9 p.m., giving Londoners about 15 and a half hours of daylight.
Come Friday, June 22, hours of daylight will start to dwindle.
Meanwhile, when it comes to temperatures and weather, Chief Meteorologist with Global News Anthony Farnell says it’s going to be a hot and wet summer, but there won’t be any week-long heatwaves.
“I’m still expecting normal to slightly above normal rainfall. That means more than your usual afternoon thunderstorms from time to time,” he said.
“As far as the temperature goes, there are going to be extended periods — like we’ve seen already — of those 30 C days with the humidex creeping into the low 40s.”
A historical trend shows those patterns usually lead to warmer temperatures in the fall, Farnell said.
“Like we’ve seen in past years, I do think September and even October are going to be very warm and sunny months,” he said.
“This is something that we’re looking at as a decade or two-decade pattern, and it has a lot to do with the temperatures in the Atlantic, in the big ridge of high pressure that develops there,” Farnell said.
“As long as that overall pattern stays the same, I think more summers and falls will be warmer than normal.”
As for what’s coming up Saturday and Sunday, Farnell says while it’s still a little early, London will definitely see rain.
“There’ll be rain showers on Saturday from time to time and even the chance of morning showers on Sunday,” he said.