21st June is Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and traditionally a day of festivals and celebration. In the high North, past the Arctic Circle, it's the first first day of the 'midnight sun' period in which the sun does not set for the rest of the summer, somewhat of a contrast to the winter months when the sun never rises.
Well doesn't that sound like a paradox? It is however really one of the main reasons why warming in the Arctic region is happening 3-4 times as fast as the global average, a research team of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) says. And it would help to explain the Arctic winter warming mystery...