Rare Strawberry Moon On First Day Of Summer

Written by Kara Seymour (Patch Staff)

Monday, June 20 is the first day of summer. And in addition to hot temperatures, a rare "Strawberry Moon" will be on display in the night sky Monday. A Strawberry Moon has an amber glow and is very low, according to experts.

"The Sun gets super high so this Moon must be super-low. Even at its loftiest at 1 AM, it’s downright wimpy-low. This forces its light through thicker air, which also tends to be humid this time of year, and the combination typically makes it amber colored," according to an explanation in the Old Farmer's Almanac.

A Strawberry Moon coinciding with the first day of summer is uncommon, last occurring in 1967, according to the Washington Post. The astronomical event will be live-streamed by Slooh.com.

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So that's what's on tap in the sky Monday.

In addition to the heat, the days will be long. Sunset is at 8:33 p.m.on Monday. At 15 hours and 38 seconds, it's the longest day of the year.

And what else can we expect in terms of the weather in Connecticut this week?

There is a chance for thunderstorms and some unsettled weather twice this week.

The first chance is Monday night and into early Tuesday morning where we could see some thunderstorms and showers, but the sun is expected to return by mid morning Tuesday and keep shining for most of the week.

There is also a chance for some showers and thunderstorms again on Thursday but skies overall are expected to be partly sunny on Thursday.

In between the two chances for some unsettled weather, the word sun dominates the first week of summer forecast and the upcoming weekend forecast for now looks great.

Click here for the rest of the week's weather.

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