By the time tonight’s rare strawberry moon subsides, it will officially be summer, and conveniently, the weather will have finally warmed up: it’s supposed to average 20 all week, through to Sunday. We haven’t had a good week of weather yet the year, and more notably, we haven’t had a strawberry moon on summer solstice since 1967. And it’ll be 46 more years until it happens again.

“Summer solstice” is the longest day of the year, if we measure a day in hours of sunlight. It’s a basker’s paradise for those of us in NL lacking in vitamin D. “Solstice” translates roughly to “Sun Stands Still.”

The science behind solstice events is too complex for a Monday morning lesson, but the event officially ushers in the summer season, and tonight, for perhaps the only time in your life — and for the first time since 1967 — the summer solstice will be kicked off with a “strawberry moon.”

What’s a strawberry moon? It’s June’s full moon, that for many cultures marks when strawberries are ready for harvesting, (other fruits too). Early native American tribes named it — they measure time by the moon and stars instead of a calculator and calendar — and in fact had names for most every month’s full moon.

Some cultures call June’s full moon a Hot Moon, since it ushers in the hot season; Most European countries call it the Honey Moon, because it’s low in the sky with a warm tint. Don’t expect a red moon tonight, but it may appear larger than normal.