In Australia, summer is 1st Dec-28th Feb, autumn (fall) is 1st March-31st May, winter is 1st Jun-31st August and spring is 1st Oct- 30th Nov. (ie first day and last day in blocks of 3 months).
Seems much more straight forward an easier to remember. Curious how y’all arrived at those dates, and are they the same every year?
24 comments
Astronomical Start or Meteorological Start?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice
They are astronomically determined.
They are attached to the sun and Earth’s relationship. For example, the technical ‘1st day of summer’ is June 21 which is the summer solstice.
There are two primary ways to determine the start of a season and it’s definitely not unique to America
You are talking about meteorological seasons which does start on the beginning of a month for statistical purposes
The other way is astronomical which are defined by the solstice and equinoxes
The seasons are set to the dates of the winter and summer solstices and spring and autumn equinoxes.
Equinox and solstice aren’t that hard to remember.
This post angers the old gods
I am happy to be the bearer of bad news. It’s Australia that has seemingly random dates for the seasons. Like most of the west, the US uses Spring and Fall equinoxes and Summer and Winter solstices for the Northern Hemisphere.
Well since someone already told you it’s about the equinox I might as well tell you about how our spelling is derived from the root word and your spelling is based on whatever the fuck the British thought the French would like the best. And later they decided on spelling based on how us Americans weren’t spelling the words (like apologize vs apologise)
You mean why does astronomy matter?
It’s only random if you don’t track the sun.
Looks like this is r/askanamericantoteachmebasicastronomy
[Two start dates to one season? Astronomical vs Meteorological Spring](https://www.wusa9.com/article/weather/astronomical-vs-meteorological-seasons-weather-spring-summer-fall-winter-warmer-science/65-c5df1212-1418-43ab-b42b-d95214f4aa30)
>Meteorological spring always starts on March 1 and will always end on May 31. Meteorologists group seasons into three-month periods that line up with temperatures changes and the calendar. December – February is winter, March-May is spring, June – August is summer, and September – November is fall.
>Consistent start and end dates for seasons make calculating seasonal statistics much easier. From seasonal averages to climatological norms, there will never be a variation on when a season begins and ends. summer and spring will always have 92 days, fall will always have 91 days, and winter will always have 90 days (unless there is a leap year).
Ah yes, it was the *Americans* who randomly picked dates for their seasons, of course.
I suppose it’s easy to schedule your seasons into neat little boxes when the weather in your area doesn’t change all that much.
It’s not just “our” seasons. The vast majority of the world uses “astronomical seasons,” where the seasons change on the equinoxes and solstices. “Meteorological seasons” are used basically only by Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and maybe a couple others.
Your seasons were created by mere men, while ours were created by the gods themselves
Wow, today I learned that Australians didn’t just inherit the European way of marking seasons.
I knew y’all are reversed because of being antipodal, but didn’t occur to me you would change it entirely.
Your dates are random. Have you not heard of equinox and solstice and what those things represent? You know. Why seasons exist.
They change slightly. We use the solstices and equinoxes.
Yours are the random dates, ours are based on the equinox.
In Australian bureaucrats decide the seasons and not Mother Nature?
Regardless on the first astronomical day of spring it could be 80 degrees in Arizona and 25 degrees in Minnesota.
So I don’t think the calendar dates of the seasons really matters. I’m avid home gardener. We watch the nighttime low temperature and use that to decide when it’s spring weather and when it’s summer weather.
TIL Australians don’t understand how seasons work.
It feels like you’re misunderstanding a convention that both of use, which is to refer to springs months, summer months, etc, For example, a June wedding is fairly common, and someone might call that a ‘summer wedding’, without asking which exact date in June it falls on.
Defining seasons by calendar date is bizarre. Seasons are a natural phenomenon that are determined by astronomical events. Using politics to redefine them would be pointless at best and more likely counterproductive.