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The Cleveland Metroparks' Huntington Beach, with the Cleveland skyline in the distance, is a popular place to enjoy the long days of summer.

(Lynn Ischay, Plain Dealer file)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Only a vampire would not like this time of the year.

Golfers, gardeners, and anyone who enjoys sunshine - rejoice. Wednesday begins a six-day string of the longest days of the year.

Cleveland will have 15 hours and 11 minutes of daylight - give or take a few seconds - each day through Tuesday.

Length of day

Daylight on the first day of spring.

Fairbanks, Alaska 21 hrs, 48 min. Seattle, Wash. 15 hrs, 59 min. Minneapolis, Minn. 15 hrs, 37 min. Boston, Mass. 15 hrs, 17 min. Cleveland, Ohio 15 hrs, 11 min. Cincinnati, Ohio 14 hrs, 55 min. Los Angeles, Calif. 14 hrs, 26 min. Orlando, Fla. 13 hrs, 58 min. Key West, Fla. 13 hrs, 40 min. Honolulu, Hawaii 13 hrs, 26 min.

Source: Source: U.S. Naval Observatory



To help you with some quick math, that means the nights are lasting less than 9 hours.

The summer solstice is Saturday, with summer officially beginning at 6:51 a.m. In technical terms, this is when the sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator.

Florida might dub itself the sunshine state. But, as long as the skies are clear, Orlando can't compete with northern Ohio in June. On the first day of spring, Orlando will have a mere 13 hours and 58 minutes of daylight.

Going north, the days get longer. There will be 15 hours and 43 minutes of daylight in Mackinaw City, Mich., and 21 hours and 48 minutes in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The start of summer varies slightly. In 2012, summer began on June 20.

Although the days will soon start shrinking, the trend moves slowly. Daylight won't drop below 15 hours a day in Cleveland until July 10.

By the first day of fall on Sept. 23, it will be down to 12 hours and 7 minutes.

Then on Dec. 21, the beginning of winter, there will be just 9 hours and 10 minutes of daylight in Cleveland, before the days start getting longer again.

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