How many days until summer?

How this summer countdown works

This tool counts to the summer solstice, the astronomical start of summer. It guesses your hemisphere from your device’s time zone, and you can switch it with the Northern and Southern buttons. In the Northern Hemisphere, summer starts at the June solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere it starts at the December solstice, the same moment as the north’s winter solstice.

The countdown runs to the start of the solstice date, midnight in your time zone, using dates given in Coordinated Universal Time. Because the exact moment of the solstice can fall late on one day in UTC and early on the next where you live, your local calendar may occasionally show it a day apart.

Summer solstice dates for the next five years

The solstice drifts between June 20 and 21 (and December 21 and 22) because the calendar year and the solar year are not quite the same length. Leap days pull the date back every four years.

Astronomical vs meteorological summer

Meteorologists use whole months instead, so seasons are easier to compare: summer is June, July and August in the north, and December, January and February in the south. By that measure summer starts on June 1 or December 1, about three weeks before the solstice. This tool uses the solstice.

The longest day of the year

The solstice brings the most daylight of the year wherever you are in that hemisphere. North of the Arctic Circle the sun does not set at all around the June solstice; near the equator, day length barely changes through the year.

Put the summer countdown on your Home Screen

In Left, open Ahead, tap Add a date ahead, then New date, and set Starts to the solstice date for your hemisphere from the table. The date shifts slightly from year to year, so add next year’s when this one passes. Then add an Ahead widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen; see the countdown widget page.

Questions