JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Spring will officially come to an end on Friday, June 20, as the summer solstice rises with the sun for over 14 hours, ushering in the start of summer.
Summer officially begins at 10:42 p.m.
Since May, it has felt like summertime, complete with over two weeks in June of afternoon, summerlike thunderstorms and record-breaking heat streaks. May 2025 has been recorded as the hottest May on record for the Jacksonville International Airport.
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The National Weather Service in Jacksonville reported that high temperatures over the past two weeks have consistently exceeded 90°F. The yearly total has reached 40 days with maximum temperatures at or above 90°F. This trend is on record pace for the hottest start to a year and possibly the hottest spring, with 20 days above the normal total through June 18.
Solstice vs Equinox
Based on information from the National Weather Service, the summer solstice occurs at the moment the Earth’s tilt toward/from the sun is at a maximum. Therefore, on the day of the summer solstice, the sun appears at its highest elevation with a noontime position that changes very little for several days before and after the summer solstice.
The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5° latitude North and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China. For every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is at its highest point in the sky, and this is the longest day of the year.
There are only two times of the year when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in a “nearly” equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes. These events are referred to as equinoxes.
The word equinox is derived from two Latin words -aequus(equal) and nox(night). At the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon on these two equinoxes. The “nearly” equal hours of day and night are due to refraction of sunlight or a bending of the light’s rays that causes the sun to appear above the horizon when the actual position of the sun is below the horizon.
Additionally, the days become a little longer at the higher latitudes (those at a distance from the equator) because it takes the sun longer to rise and set. Therefore, on the equinox and for several days before and after the equinox, the length of day will range from about 12 hours and six and one-half minutes at the equator, to 12 hours and 8 minutes at 30 degrees latitude, to 12 hours and 16 minutes at 60 degrees latitude.
Fun sun facts
Thanks to Tony from What’s Up In Space for the following tidbits: the earliest sunrise in Jacksonville occurred on Tuesday, June 10, at 6:24 a.m., while the latest sunset in Jacksonville will be on Sunday, June 29, at 8:32 p.m.