How many days until summer?
A live countdown to 1 June, the start of meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The difference between that and the solstice is explained below — it matters more than people expect.
Live countdown
Which "start of summer" this page counts to
There is no single answer, so this page states its choice openly: the countdown targets 1 June, the first day of meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Here are the competing definitions, and why we chose that one.
- Meteorological summer: 1 June to 31 August. Meteorological agencies divide the year into four three-month seasons aligned to the calendar, because whole months make climate statistics comparable between years. It is a fixed date, requiring no astronomy, and the one used by national weather services including the UK Met Office and the US National Weather Service.
- Astronomical summer: the June solstice. Summer begins at the moment the Sun reaches its northernmost point, on 20 or 21 June in most years. This is the common answer in the United States and much of continental Europe.
- Traditional and cultural summer. In Ireland summer traditionally begins on 1 May at Bealtaine; in parts of northern Europe midsummer is the solstice itself, placing it in the middle rather than at the start; and for a great many people summer simply starts when the schools break up or on a bank holiday weekend.
We use the meteorological date for a specific reason. The solstice is an astronomical event whose exact moment shifts by several hours from year to year, so pinning it down properly means either an ephemeris calculation or a stored table — and a stored table is exactly the kind of thing that goes quietly wrong a decade later. A fixed 1 June is honest, stable, and computed from a rule, which is the standard every countdown on this site is held to. If you want the solstice specifically, take the date for the year you care about and put it into the custom countdown.
About the solstice
The June solstice falls on 20 or 21 June in the current era, in Universal Time. It landed on 22 June as recently as 1975 and will not do so again until the twenty-third century; the drift is a consequence of the mismatch between the tropical year and the calendar year, reset every leap day. On the solstice the Northern Hemisphere gets its longest day — more than 16 hours of daylight in London, and continuous daylight anywhere north of the Arctic Circle — while the Southern Hemisphere gets its shortest.
A common surprise: the solstice is not the hottest day. Land and oceans keep absorbing more heat than they release for weeks afterwards, so peak temperatures in most of the Northern Hemisphere arrive in late July or early August. The same lag, in reverse, is why the coldest weather comes well after the December solstice.
If you are in the Southern Hemisphere
Everything inverts. Meteorological summer in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and most of South America runs from 1 December to 28 or 29 February, and astronomical summer begins at the December solstice. Use the custom countdown with 1 December as your target for the southern equivalent of this page.
The next six summers
Meteorological summer always begins on the same date, so only the weekday changes:
| Year | Date | Day of the week | Days from today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calculating… | |||
Questions people ask
Why does this count to 1 June and not the solstice?
Because 1 June is a rule, and the solstice is an astronomical calculation. Every countdown on this site is derived from a rule so that it cannot go stale, and meteorological summer — 1 June to 31 August — is the definition used by national weather services. The solstice section above explains the alternative.
When is the summer solstice?
20 or 21 June in the current era, in Universal Time, with the exact moment varying by several hours from year to year. It has not fallen on 22 June since 1975.
Is the solstice the longest and hottest day?
The longest, yes. The hottest, no — peak temperatures lag the solstice by roughly six weeks because land and ocean continue to absorb more heat than they release. Late July is more typical.
What about summer in the Southern Hemisphere?
It runs from 1 December to the end of February. Use the custom countdown with 1 December to build the southern version of this page.
Is there a countdown for a specific year?
Yes — see summer 2027, which targets 1 June 2027 and says so plainly once the date has passed.
Count down to something else
Every page below works the same way and stays correct on its own. For a date of your own — a holiday, an exam, a due date, a launch — use the countdown and date difference calculator.