Debate : What are the seasons??

ninebeanrows

It's something were taught in school !

But over the last year or so i've found people simply dont know what months are in what
season and neither do i! Are the Irish living in a microworld?

I was taught that winter was November, December, January !

But i am sure that it is December, January, February and everyone in
Britain i've asked is too!

So when is winter?

Supercell

I believe by ye olde calender seasons ..its nov/dec/jan , but meteorologists consider it to be dec/jan/feb

One decides it by the solar cycles and the other by temperature cycles..both are correct really!

SpitfireIV

I always took it too that Winter was November, December and January.

Just the same as August is in Autumn, strange eh.

CroppyBoy1798

Danno

Three different ways that I know of:

In daylight terms: Nov, Dec and Jan

In temperature terms: Dec, Jan and Feb

In another term: Dec 21 to Mar 21.

Which is right?

Supercell

I like the Laois term/version, makes the most sense

mike65

Winter

December/Jan/Feb

Spring

March/April/May

Summer

June/July/August

Autumn

Sept/Oct/Nov

Makes sense to me.

Mike.

Bartronilic

Officially summer starts in may due to sunlight being longer. But weather wise it starts in june (it has to heat up) and reaches a nice level in August, oh how I love august

Gegerty

Dec/Jan/Feb for winter. Apart from the freak February we had a couple of years back have you ever heard of lambs being born in February? Do you see any leaves growing back on the trees? Do you see any Spring flowers blossoming? Any daffodils? Do you need to go out and mow the lawn every week cause its starting to grow? Eh no cause its February and its still winter.

kindredspirit

Primary school teachers used to get hung up thinking that each season is 3 months in duration. In reality the two real seasons are winter and summer; spring and autumn are transitional periods between the two.

Therefore according to the great god KS !!!

Spring is March and April.

Summer is May, June, July and August.

Autumn is September and October.

Winter is November, December, January and February.

Why people would think that each season should be of equal duration and each, 3 months long is beyond me.

Surrey Snow

I always consider Winter to start 1st Dec and end when it warms up and the overnight frost cease.

SS

Gegerty

kindredspirit wrote:

Primary school teachers used to get hung up thinking that each season is 3 months in duration. In reality the two real seasons are winter and summer; spring and autumn are transitional periods between the two.

Therefore according to the great god KS !!!

Spring is March and April.

Summer is May, June, July and August.

Autumn is September and October.

Winter is November, December, January and February.

Why people would think that each season should be of equal duration and each, 3 months long is beyond me.

The plants know when to come out in spring and when to shed their leaves in Autumn. I agree its not always at the same time or for the same duration each year. I think its meteorologists that define 3 months for each just to make their job easier!

sunbeam

Gegerty wrote:

Dec/Jan/Feb for winter. Apart from the freak February we had a couple of years back have you ever heard of lambs being born in February? Do you see any leaves growing back on the trees? Do you see any Spring flowers blossoming? Any daffodils? Do you need to go out and mow the lawn every week cause its starting to grow? Eh no cause its February and its still winter.

The occasional early lamb, yes. Our seasons really seem to have become quite confused here on the west coast over the past few years, when it comes to plant growth. We had daffs in January last year. This year my summer and spring flowers overlapped with new (cultivated) daisies and wallflowers starting in November and nasturtiums still coming up and blooming at Christmas. The cold has slowed everything down, but last years carnations are still flowering with the daffodils. My 'Christmas' roses started last year in June, so I'm not sure what that says about Irish summers though.

I'd still like to think that Spring starts on 1st Feb. Probably wishful thinking given the weather, but it helps to psychologically shorten the winter for me.

DMC

I could never consider August to be an Autumn month, likewise May in summer, but thats the way we were taught in school. Today is the start of Spring for me.

LookingFor

The Irish calendar is actually pretty unique. Others don't assign the same months to the seasons that we do. I only realised this pretty recently talking to some American friends..they thought I was crazy initially, and had me double checking myself! But it turns out we have different definitions than they do. For us, May, June and July are supposed to be summer, but elsewhere it's June, July, August.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

LFCFan

Irelands weather is fcuked up so it's no wonder we're confused. I was always taught that Nov/Dec/Jan was Winter but to me Kindredspirit's definition seems to make the most sense.

Irishswede

Very true, all foreigners say the same thing

daiske

This is how it is in the rest of Europe.

21 MArch-21 June, Spring
21 June- 21 September, Summer
21 September- 21 December , Autumn
21 December-21 March, Winter

It has to do with astronomy and the position of the Earth on those dates.