Nancy is resting, still, from her big sleep test. So, . . .(from John):
Today is being reported as the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. This is the “astronomical summer” as defined by the geometry of sun rays relative to the tilted Earth.
An explanation is here.
Meteorologists use a different definition of the “Summer Season” based on the months of warmest temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, summer is defined as June/July/August, making the first day of summer June 1st. This “feels” right and is the way many people and some countries view things. In the US, the summer season is perceived to start with Memorial Day. This year that was on May 26.
[Note the date of that web page – June 21, 2013. In addition to missing IRS hard drives our government seems to be missing a year!]
The diagram on the NOAA site is not meant to show the correct sizes of Sun and Earth. The image below does. Earth and Sun sizes are about right but the distance between is not correct. (Click the photo for the full size.)
For current information about what the Sun is up to you can check Space Weather .com.
When sunny Nancy gets around to finishing the weekly report, I’ll see about getting it posted. Maybe Sunday – Noonish.
Best,
John