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Soggy start to summer solstice Rain dampens summer solstice and Glastonbury preparations
(about 4 hours later)
Heavy rain and grey skies have marred the astronomical beginning of summer. Put away the flip-flops and dig out those wellies still caked with last year’s mud: Glastonbury weekend looks set to be a soggy affair.
Monday marks the summer solstice – the longest day of the year and the celestial transition point between the seasons – but wet weather has plagued much of the UK. After heavy rain in recent days, parts of the festival site in Somerset resemble a vast muddy lake days before 177,000 festivalgoers are due to arrive.
There was rain across the south and Midlands on Monday morning, though the sun managed to break through further north. Footage taken by a member of staff after a deluge on Friday showed one area under at least a foot of water.
The dull and wet start to the day was expected to largely clear in time for celebrations to mark the solstice. #Glastonbury festival this morning ~7AMwet, wet, wet!!! pic.twitter.com/3sX88UgEuj
Thousands of people will make their way to Stonehenge in Wiltshire to mark the occasion, which also coincides with a strawberry moon. Monday marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and astronomical beginning of summer. The season started with rain across the south and Midlands, though the sun managed to break through further north.
Thousands of people will make their way to Stonehenge in Wiltshire on Monday to mark the solstice. If the clouds give way, there could be a glimpse of a rare phenomenon: a strawberry moon – a full moon that marks the start of the strawberry season – coinciding with the solstice for the first time in almost 50 years.
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If the clouds give way, stargazers could also catch a glimpse of the rare phenomenon on Monday night. A strawberry moon – a full moon that marks the start of the strawberry season – has not coincided with the solstice for almost 50 years. After the wet start to Monday the rain is expected to clear. Simon Partridge, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: “It’s a very wet start but it’s not unusual to get a weather front coming across the UK at this time of year. It will brighten up through this afternoon and this evening, which should give us a few clear spells which should give a chance to do some moon-gazing.”
Simon Partridge, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: “It’s a very wet start but it’s not unusual to get a weather front coming across the UK at this time of year. It will brighten up through this afternoon and this evening, which should give us a few clear spells which should give a chance to do some moon-gazing.” He said there was a good chance of patchy cloud over Stonehenge and this could affect the view, though there would be some “decent sunny spells” during 17 hours of daylight.
But he warned there was a good chance of patchy cloud around Stonehenge despite 17 hours of daylight and this could affect the view. The rest of the week looks set to be mostly dry, but come Saturday there could be more rain – though it should relent by the time Adele takes to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in the evening.
Temperatures will be 18C (64.4F) or 19C (66.2F) on Monday – normal for this time of year – with some “decent sunny spells”, Partridge added.
Meteorologists define the beginning of summer as 1 June, while the astronomical calendar determines the seasons based on the Earth’s rotational axis in relation to its orbit of the Sun.