Last evening, the Northern Hemisphere crossed the summer solstice, its annual maximum tilt toward the sun. Over the next six months, the sun will gradually retreat to the south and, in concert, our hours of sunlight will steadily diminish until we reach the winter solstice, on or about December 20.
It will take several weeks before we notice much change in the sunlight and several months before the longer nights take a toll on the summer heat. Of course, the rate of change will be far more dramatic in the Arctic, sending shorebirds south by August and waterfowl in their wake.
Those of us who are not fond of hot, humid weather look forward to the cool, crisp weather of autumn and would like to accelerate the sun's retreat. But it is the Earth's journey that governs our seasons, revolving around our home star on a tilted axis, steadily changing the angle of solar radiation that we receive. Since we are already moving at 66,000 miles per hour to cover the 300 million miles between summer and winter solstices, a bit of patience seems to be in order.
