Whether you’re hoping to make the most of what's left of spring or you’re looking forward to the hotter summer months, many people are wondering when summer officially begins.
The UK has been experiencing unpredictable showers, wind and the occasional bout of sunshine.
“Unsettled Friday with spells of heavy rain and thundery showers,” said the Met Office about the start of the upcoming bank holiday weekend.
“Rain clearing northwards later leaving bright spells,” it added.
As for Saturday, it will be drier and brighter, and on Sunday we can expect showers or rain.
So, with the weather not very exciting right now, when does summer officially start?
When is the first day of summer?
Well, according to the astronomical calendar, summer in the Northern Hemisphere officially begins on Thursday, June 20 and ends on Sunday, September 22. That means we still have just under two months until we get to complain that it doesn't look like summer outside.
The astronomical calendar determines the seasons due to the 23.5 degrees of tilt of the Earth's axis in its orbit around the Sun.
The warmest summer on record in the UK was in 2018 when daytime temperatures averaged 15.76°C, narrowly exceeding the previous record of 15.75°C in 2006.
The hottest daily temperature ever recorded in the UK was on July 19, 2022 when Coningsby, Lincolnshire recorded a boiling hot 40.3°C.
However, the dates vary slightly for meteorologists.
The Met Office said: “The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each.
“These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.”
The meteorological start to the summer is June 1, and is the same each year.
The seasons are defined as spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).
