It's almost time! At 8 tonight (Eastern Time) the North Pole will be closer to the sun than at any other time this year! Known as the Summer Solstice, this relative position of Earth to Sun heralds the official beginning of Summer.
Of course, if you live here in Tallahassee, it seems like it already started and tonight is more of a symbol or reminder than anything else... But growing up, I lived in a climate where the rains didn't end until around the 4th of July (and picked up again in time for Halloween for another nine full months of misty cloud cover and intermittent rain), so the first day of summer was more like a promise and it meant a lot. There, real summer was the time when the winds picked up heavy from the north and the sun came out at least half the days. As much as I can tell so far, summer here is the time when, um, it's really hot and there are a lot of crepe myrtles in bloom, fleas invade, and the water in the Gulf is too hot to swim in. But as of yet, I still think this is a fair trade for a winter sky full of sun.