Football might be on TV, school may be in session soon, but we have a lot of summer left
If you’re one of the millions of American parents preparing to send your kids back to school in a couple of weeks, then you might have to stop to think about this: We’re only at summer’s midpoint.
Yes. Really. Ignore the back-to-school sales. Turn off those exhibition football games. In the Northern Hemisphere, we still have more than 49 days left until the calendar welcomes fall (assuming you are reading this on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022). If you’re still shocked, don’t be so hard on yourself. We just passed the “cultural” midpoint of summer. Who wouldn’t think we were changing the seasons, when everything else in life appears to be changing?
But, we aren’t. The summer solstice began Tuesday, June 21, 2022. That makes the official midpoint Sunday, Aug. 7, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. If that feels later than usual, well, it isn’t. Still, Americans, especially, tend to celebrate a much earlier summer midpoint as the Labor Day holiday and return to the classrooms signals an unofficial end of summer. Christians also might celebrate an earlier event, albeit not much earlier:
While August 7th is the official midpoint of summer, the traditional midpoint of the summer season actually occurs on August 1st, which is marked on some Christian calendars as Lammas Day, one of the four traditional “cross-quarter” days midway between the solstices and the equinoxes.
The Farmer’s Almanac
How Is This the Midpoint?
Not to take away from the tradition of the summer midpoint, but mathematically, Aug. 1 does not work. Summer, as with all changing seasons, is defined by the angle of the sunlight. That angle changes on specific dates.
On June 21, the angle of the sunlight shining on Earth was at 90 degrees. The angle of the sun will be at 180 degrees on Sept. 22, 2022, (assuming Eastern Daylight time; it’s Sept. 23 UTC) which is the first day of fall this year. The midpoint of summer is when the sun reaches an angle of 135 degrees (90+45=135, 180-45=135).
That means back-to-school shopping and meaningless professional football scrimmages actually start in the MIDDLE of summer, not at the end of it. Don’t want to be fooled again? Check out this list from the National Weather Service of all the solstice and equinox dates through 2025.
Just Don’t Tell Anyone It’s Only the Midpoint
Perhaps you deal better with knowing that Aug. 1 is almost exactly six months after Groundhog Day, the unofficial middle of winter. Or, maybe, you mark your calendars with the school district.
Plenty are ready to join you. Back to school shoppers are on track to match 2021’s record $37 billion despite the rise in inflation. Classrooms are set to open in just a few weeks, and well before the end of the summer season. Marching bands and fall athletes are sweating in the sweltering sun of training camps. And some people are trying to squeeze in that last vacation before summer unofficially ends.
So, prepare for the days the sun will set sooner, the yards will grow quieter, and the football scores will matter. But don’t put away the tank tops just yet.
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