For World Cup Fans, the Biggest Surprise May Be the Light

World Cup fans are traveling from all over the globe to watch soccer matches in the United States this summer. Many expected to deal with different weather when they arrived. But for fans coming from places like Norway, Ghana, Scotland, and Morocco, the biggest surprise has turned out to be something else entirely — the light.

Right now, it is close to the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. That means the sun rises very far to the north and sets very far to the north, giving places like New England long, bright days. But how much you notice that depends on where you live. For some visitors, New England's summer light feels almost magical. For others, it feels like something has been taken away.

Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is one of 16 host cities for the World Cup. It sits about 30 miles inland from Boston, which means it can be up to 20 degrees warmer there than on the coast on a sunny afternoon. After dark, though, the suburbs cool off faster than the city, so summer evenings in Foxborough can actually feel quite comfortable.

Fans from Norway are among the most surprised by the light. Oslo, Norway's capital, sits near 60 degrees north latitude. In June, Oslo gets nearly 19 hours of daylight. The sun does not set until after 10:30 p.m., and the sky never gets fully dark — it stays a deep blue all night long, like the glow you see here about 30 to 60 minutes after sunset. Coming to New England, where it actually gets dark at night, can feel disorienting for Norwegian visitors.

The light alone can mess with your sleep and sense of time, even if you have not crossed many time zones. This effect has been called a kind of jet lag caused by light, not travel. Norway's landscape is also very different from New England's, with wide-open fjords and rocky mountains instead of thick forests. Oslo's June highs average around 66 degrees, so Foxborough's warmer afternoons are a noticeable change too.

Fans from Scotland face a similar light adjustment. Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, sits at 56 degrees north latitude, and the sun stays up past 10 p.m. there in June. Scotland also tends to be cool in summer, with average highs in the 60s, so Foxborough's warmer days have come as a surprise. Scotland's open, treeless highlands look nothing like New England's green forests, making the whole landscape feel like a different world.

Ghana's fans have had the opposite experience. Accra, Ghana's capital, sits just 5.6 degrees north of the equator, where the length of the day barely changes throughout the year — it stays close to 12 hours of daylight every single day. In Foxborough, Ghanaian fans have been experiencing something truly unusual — nearly three extra hours of daylight compared to home. Accra is also very hot and humid in June, so New England's summer air has actually felt like a welcome relief to many Ghanaian visitors.

Moroccan fans have had yet another experience. Casablanca sits on the Atlantic coast at about 33 degrees north, so Moroccans recognize the coastal geography. But Casablanca in June is very dry, with almost no rain and clear, low-humidity air, while New England's thick green landscape may look surprising to visitors used to drier scenery. Moroccan fans have also gained about an hour of extra daylight compared to home.

For people who have lived in New England their whole lives, the changes in light from season to season happen so slowly that they are easy to miss. After the solstice, the days get a tiny bit shorter each day — just a few seconds at first, then building to nearly three minutes a day by the time fall arrives. Sunday marks the summer solstice, the official start of summer, and for locals it means school is out and vacations are beginning.

For the visiting fans and players, the solstice is a moment they are experiencing whether they realize it or not. Some are closer to the sun's highest point in the sky than they have ever been. Others may feel like the familiar darkness has been stolen from them. Either way, the light is telling a story this World Cup — one that goes far beyond the soccer field.