On Saturday at 5:51am CDT the astronomical summer begins for the Northern Hemisphere. But most would agree, summer started weeks ago. Get this, did you know there are several different ways to classify the summer season? We know about the astronomical season but there’s also the solar and the meteorological. When I brought up this question to some of my recent school visits, the students preferred the longest season of the three.
Unlike the astronomical season, which is determined by the Earth’s position in relation to the sun, the meteorological season is categorized by temperature. This takes place from June 1st to August 31st.
Finally you have the solar season, which is categorized by the length of daylight hours. Solar summer is from May 1st to July 31st, the months with the longest daylight hours.
For those who wish summer wouldn’t end (kids are you reading) then the astronomical summer is your winner being the longest summer of all.