Summer is usually one of the most anticipated seasons of the year. After all, there is no better time to enjoy the outdoorsand the sunshine. But summer also brings about a number of changes toour planet, from warming temperatures to dangerous thunderstorms to fireflies that flash in unison.Here are some of the most interesting and intriguing annual summer phenomena and a quick look at why they happen.SEE ALSO:These are 13 of the hottest places on earthTemperatures get warmer ' and heatwaves are more common.Nothing says summer like warm weather. This rise in temperatures is caused by the tilt of the Earths axis. Our planet doesnt sit perfectly straight as it spinsinstead, it has a slight lean of approximately23.5 degrees with respect to the sun as it rotates, called the axial tilt. So, throughout the year as the earth revolves around the sun, this axial tilt causes the planets northern and southern hemisphere to bask in different levels of sunlight, giving rise to the seasons. In the summer, the suns rays hit the Earth at a steep angle, the light doesnt spread out as much, and so any one spot receives more energy from the sun, increasing temperatures. This effect is amplified by the longer summer days. Heatwaves are most common in summer when high pressure systems develop across an area, trapping the heat. And, as climate change continues to rise temperatures, scientists predict there will be more frequent and severe heat waves in summer.The Arctic Circle enjoys 24 hours of light.North of the Arctic Circle, or roughly above 66 degrees in latitude, the sun is visible for 24 hours a day for a given time-frame depending on how far north you are. And at the North Pole, it will be daylight all day from March 21 to September 23. This phenomenon is popularly called the Midnight Sun, and it too is a result of the axial tilt. While at the equator, the sun seems to rise straight up into the sky and set straight down at the horizon, back in the far north latitudes, the sun appears to travel in a slanting 360 degree circle in the sky. So, even when the sun is below the horizon, it isnt there for very long, nor is it very far below the horizon, keeping the sky alight all night long. The southern hemisphere experiences all the above phenomena too, just on the reciprocal side of the calendar. The stars that we see at night change.As the earth orbits the sun, the part of the night sky that is in our view changes. What this means is that most of the star patterns, or constellations, that we see on a summer night are different from those that we see in the winter, according to Space.com. In other words, in the summer, we can see the stars that during the winter were in our daytime sky, and thus were invisible to us.Of course, this change in which stars we see doesnt happen all at once. The change in the night sky is subtle from night to night, But, as the season progresses, reports Space.com, a given star sets about 4 minutes earlier each night, so over a month, that means it sets two hours earlier. Gradually, the stars that were low over the western horizon during the early evening hours eventually disappear entirely from our view over a few weeks and their place is taken up stars that earlier were higher in the sky at sundown.Since the planet completes a circle every year, patterns and constellations re-emerge on schedule every season. For example, its a great time to see the Big Dipper in the summer.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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