Summer solstice 2024 marks 'longest day' of the year

Today (Thursday) is the first day of astronomical summer, or the summer solstice.

The exact moment of the 2024 summer solstice will be at 3:50 p.m. CDT. That’s when the sun is at its highest point in the sky each year.

It’s also known as the “longest day of the year,” even through it still has 24 hours just like any other day.

But today and the days surrounding it will have the most daylight of the year.

The amount of daylight begins shrinking on June 21 and will continue bit by bit until the winter solstice, or “shortest day of the year,” which in 2024 will fall on Dec. 21.

But today will be a long one in terms of daylight. The amount will vary depending on your location.

In Alabama:

Huntsville: 14 hours, 29 minutes, 15 seconds

Birmingham: 14 hours, 22 minutes, 41 seconds

Mobile: 14 hours, 8 minutes, 7 seconds

Auburn: 14 hours, 17 minutes, 52 seconds

Tuscaloosa: 14 hours, 21 minutes, 1 second

In the United States:

Anchorage, Alaska: 19:21:29

New York City: 15:05:38

Seattle: 15:59:18

St. Louis: 14:52:08

Los Angeles: 14:25:32

Miami: 13:44:59

Some are even touting the 2024 summer solstice as the earliest one since 1796 -- or when George Washington was president. The reason why involves a lot of astronomy and calendar fiddling.

According to USA Today: “The early solstice is due to the complex dance between Earth’s yearly orbit around the sun and its daily rotation, along with how we mark the solstice on our calendars. Quirks in the Gregorian calendar mean the solstice will make another jump earlier every leap year until the year 2100.”

Although today marks the first day of astronomical summer, it’s felt like summer in Alabama for quite a while. Meteorological summer, used by weather forecasters and climatologists, actually began on June 1.