The Summer Solstice

Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

Summer will officially begin tonight, June 20th at 11:04 pm MDT (Mountain Daylight Time). That is the exact time of the Summer Solstice, the exact moment that the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees North latitude.

That means Friday, June 21st will be the first full-day of Summer 2013.

This is the time of year when our days are the longest, with almost 16 hours of daylight in Jackson Hole, not including twilight! Compare that to only about 9 hours of daylight around the Winter Solstice in December.

Green Down Low, White Up High

While elevations below about the 9000-ft. elevation are green and wildflowers are abundant, there is still a considerable amount of snow above at least 9500-ft. in the Tetons. Higher elevation passes are going to take awhile to melt out. To give you an idea of how much snow remains, I have posted a few shots from a trip up into Paintbrush Canyon and from the top of Mt. Woodring (11,503-ft.) in Grand Teton National Park over the Father's Day Weekend.

From the Summit of Mt. Woodring. Photo by Greg Winston.

That little lake before Holly Lake (still frozen), Elevation 9200-ft. Paintbrush Canyon

Upper Paintbrush Canyon...note the small slab avalanche.. ...zoomed below

A not-too-old Slab Avalanche

North & Northeast aspects of the main Teton Range as seen from Mt. Woodring

A Green Valley. Looking over Leigh & Jackson Lakes to the Northeast

Post by Jim Woodmencey, meteorologist
Photos by Greg Winston & Jim Woodmencey