Happy Summer Solstice – The Earliest Since 1896

By Milan B

The (Northern) Summer Solstice, today at 2:44 PM PDT, marks the earliest beginning of summer since 1896.

Chart of Solstice dates in Vancouver classified by "type" (the remainder after dividing the year by 4). Years evenly divisible by 4 (type 0 - such as 2016, 2020, 2024) can have early solstices.
Solstice dates in Vancouver classified by “type” (the remainder after dividing the year by 4). Years evenly divisible by 4 (type 0 – such as 2016, 2020, 2024) can have early solstices.

The chart above shows how the quadrennial correction (which the Julian Calendar is solely based on) works well short term, but over a longer period of time (130 years or so), it produces a significant error (one full day). To correct this, the Gregorian Calendar introduces another correction which is to omit leap days in some of the years that centuries begin with (or end, some would say). Years like 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 etc. are chosen for this correction. So, we are in a deep stretch without this centennial correction and the seasons’ start dates will be falling even earlier until late 21st century.