Summer Solstice: Live Music, Events Celebrate Baltimore County's Longest Day

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — We’ve been enjoying summertime events in Baltimore County since before the start of meteorological summer on June 1, but the season officially gets underway Thursday, June 20, with the summer solstice.

These eight summer solstice events will celebrate on Thursday:

• Foundry Row Summer Concert Series: Owings Mills, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Good Life Thursday at Boordy Vineyards - Local Musicians and Vendors: Hydes, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Summer Solstice: Handpan Hangout and Sound Immersion: Glen Arm, 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• All About Bugs - Lesson for Kids Ages 3 to 8: Loch Raven Library, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The sun travels its longest path through the sky on the day of the summer solstice, which occurs the exact moment it reaches its highest and northernmost points in the sky.

In Baltimore County, that’s at 1:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

It's the longest day of the year in terms of daylight.

On Thursday, the sun will rise at 5:39 a.m. and set at 8:36 p.m. That will give Baltimore County 14 hours, 57 minutes and 7 seconds of daylight.

You can read more about the science of the summer solstice on The Old Farmer’s Almanac website.

The summer solstice offers a short window to see electric blue noctilucent clouds, the highest in Earth's atmosphere, which float about 50 miles above our planet's surface near the edge of space, which starts at an altitude of 62 miles.

This year, the solstice coincides with the full strawberry moon on June 21. It doesn’t happen often that the solstice falls within a day of the full moon — only about once every 19 to 20 years, according to Space.com.

As you’re filling out your summer calendar, block out a few dates for the summer meteor showers. The Delta Aquariids, Alpha Capricornids and the always-anticipated Perseids all start in July.

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• 2024 Guide To Meteor Showers And Other Celestial Events

And, who knows, you may get a chance to see the aurora borealis, or northern lights, as the sun’s 11-year magnetic cycle goes into overdrive as it approaches what’s known as “solar maximum.” During this time, the sun’s magnetic field completely flips between the north and south poles. As the magnetic fields become tangled about midway through the cycle, the number of sunspots, where geomagnetic storms originate, is expected to ramp up.

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• ‘Internet Apocalypse’ Could Accompany Vivid Aurora