SUMMER
It is with great longing that we look forward to the warm long days of summer. Days of lingering evenings. Walks in the hills. Trips on Loch Lomond ... or paddling in its shallow verges. We always get a few really hot days, but many, too few, And midges. index.asp?pageid=731618
Actually West Dunbartonshire sits at an optimum latitude and, being alongside the sea, the Firth of Clyde, also of little altitude. Quite what constitutes an optimum climate is subjective. Just right for those who are active in our great outdoors. Not warm enough for those who simply want to lie on a Mediteranean beach.
Then after a long wait for the heights of summer, we suddenly realise that we have reached mid=summer and the days are getting shorter again. In reality this is generally the best time. September in particular has great weather.
Midsummer is marked by the summer solstice. To understand this let's look to the Royal Museums Greenwich:
The summer solstice occurs in June in the Northern Hemisphere and marks midsummer: the 'longest day' and 'shortest night' of the year. On this day, the number of hours of daylight are at their maximum, while the number of hours of night are at their minimum.
However, while most people consider the summer solstice to be a day, it is in reality an exact moment in time that falls upon that day. This moment comes when whichever hemisphere you're in is most tilted towards the Sun.
The astronomical definition of the solstice is as follows:
Our Earth rotates on its axis once each day, producing the cycle of day and night.At the same time, the Earth moves around the Sun on its orbit over the course of a year. However, the axis of rotation of the Earth is not lined up with the axis of motion around the Sun. Instead, it is tilted slightly at 23.44°. This tilt means that during one half of the year the North side of the Earth is tilted slightly towards the Sun and the South is tilted away. For the other half of the year the reverse is true.
What better way to enjoy summer than in a bright oink ball floating on the water of Drumkinnon Bay, Loch Lomond.
THE ROYAL MUSEUMS AT GREENWICH : https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/summer-solstice
