5 Things You Might Not Have Known About Tuesday's Summer Solstice

Today, June 21st, is the official start of the summer season, or the Summer Solstice. Here are some things you might not know about the longest day of daylight this year win Central New York.

Sunrise on June 21st was 5:44 a.m. in Utica and sunset here is 8:44 p.m., making it our longest day of the year, and shortest night. The Solstice is the day that one half of the Earth is completely facing the sun, and the other half is pointed directly away. In the northern hemisphere, the sun reaches its highest and northernmost points in the sky, resulting in a longer day of sunlight.

Here are 5 things you might not have known about the summer solstice.

1. Solstice comes from the latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The reason for the name is because the at 12 noon, the sun seems to stand still.

2. Some European countries hold celebrations on Summer Solstice by firing up a celebratory bon fire.

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3. Summer Solstice is usually not the hottest day of the summer, even with the sun's positioning. Hotter weather usually follows as the planet's bodies of water heat up.

4. Alaskans celebrate Summer Solstice with a midnight baseball game called the Midnight Sun Game. The game starts at 10 p.m. in Fairbanks, Alaska, and continues on well into the morning. On June 21st, this year the sun sets in Fairbanks at 12:48 a.m. and rises again about two hours later at 1:57 a.m..

5. Summer Solstice delivers more sunlight than any other day of the year and the further north you are, the longer the sunlight. While Alaska gets about 22 hours of daylight, Upstate New York enjoys nearly 15 hours of daylight. In contrast, in Miami Florida the sunrise is at 6:30 a.m. and the sunset is at 8:15 p.m., give the people of South Beach a little more than 8 hours of daylight.

Animals in Which Rabies is Most Commonly Found

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in North America rabies is most commonly found in bats, skunks, raccoons, foxes, and mongoose. It is also found in cats, cattle, and dogs. The CDC says that rabid bats have been found in every state except for Hawaii. Rabid mongoose have been found in Puerto Rico.

Rabies is easily transmitted from animals to other animals, including human beings. Human cases are rare in the United States, but deadly if not caught in time.

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