DaysUntilNowSeason countdowns
Dates the sky decides rather than a parliament — the solstices and equinoxes that open each season, and two more the weather and the debris trail set for us.
Days until Fall
Astronomical fall in the Northern Hemisphere begins around September 22–23, at the autumn equinox
Days until Hurricane Season
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 every year
Days until Spring
Astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere begins around March 19–21, at the spring equinox
Days until Summer
Astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere begins around June 20–21, at the summer solstice
Days until The Perseids
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12–13 each year
Days until Winter
Astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere begins around December 21–22, at the winter solstice
Why the first day of summer is not the first of June
Ask two people when summer starts and you will get two answers, and both are right for their own purposes.
Meteorologists split the year into four whole three-month blocks: summer is June, July and August, winter is December, January and February. Whole months make it possible to compare one year against another without the boundaries wandering, which is exactly what a climate record needs. That is the meteorological season, and it always starts on the first of the month.
Everyone else means the solstice. The June solstice is the moment the sun reaches its northernmost point, the longest day of the northern year, and it lands somewhere between June 20 and June 22 depending on where the leap-year cycle has got to. That is the astronomical season, and it is what these countdowns count to.
The quarter-day that moves everything
A year is not a whole number of days. The earth takes about 365 days and six hours to go round the sun, so each solstice and equinox happens roughly six hours later in the day than the year before — until a leap day resets it by a full day and the cycle starts again. Over four years the date can shift across a two-day range, which is why a countdown that assumes “the 21st, always” is wrong about a quarter of the time.
Your time zone matters here more than on any other page. A solstice is a single instant for the whole planet, not a date, and that instant falls on different calendar days depending on where you are standing. Each counter on this site converts it on your own device, so the day it shows you is the day it happens where you are.
Frequently asked questions
Do you count to the astronomical season or the meteorological one?
The astronomical one — the solstice or equinox. Meteorological seasons start on the first of March, June, September and December because whole months make climate statistics easier, but the day people mean by ‘first day of summer’ is the solstice.
Why does the first day of a season move by a day or two?
Because a tropical year is about 365.2422 days, not 365. The extra quarter-day pushes each solstice and equinox roughly six hours later each year until a leap day pulls it back, so the date cycles over a two-day range.
Are these dates right in the southern hemisphere?
The instants are the same worldwide, but the seasons are reversed: the June solstice opens summer in the north and winter in the south. Each page says which hemisphere it is describing.
How we calculate this
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