What’s a solstice?

2020's summer solstice is on Saturday, June 20th at 2:44 Pacific time. This marks the official start of the summer season. Why?

Let's break it down:

The reason the Earth has seasons is because of its tilt. Rather than being directly up and down, the Earth is tilted 23.5° away from 90°.

As the planet orbits around the sun, different parts of Earth are exposed to more/less of the sun's rays.

During the summer solstice, the Earth's axis is tilted towards the sun, with the sun directly over the Tropic of Cancer. Since more energy is directed to the Northern Hemisphere, we experience the "longest day" of the year.

In Palm Springs, we'll have 14 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds of daylight to enjoy our Saturday.

Each day moving forward, that amount of time will shrink leading up to the winter solstice on December 21st which will have 9 hours, 54 minutes, and 15 seconds of daylight.