Today is the Summer Solstice and summer officially starts Wednesday.

It is the longest day of the year with the sun rising at 5:40 a.m. and the sun setting 8:52 p.m. That’s 15 hours and 12 minutes of daylight in Washington. Due to the Earth’s tilt, this is the day the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Cancer. As the calendar turns the days will get shorter until the winter solstice on December 21st.