First Day of Spring?

Rhotheta

Americans generally consider today to be the first day of Spring. Do you think they are right?

ShiftStorm

No

Duggy747

Spring Break brah!!

seamus

It was actually yesterday.

castletownman

Yesterday was the first day of decent drying out. So I'd say that's a sign that Spring is here

gramar

Is this thread being monitored by the CIA for any anti-american sentiment that might be expressed and subsequently suppressed?

Menas

gramar wrote: »

Is this thread being monitored by the CIA for any anti-american sentiment that might be expressed and subsequently suppressed?

EVERYTHING is monitored by the CIA. But it is for your own good, so carry on as you were.

youtube!

Long before we had the Roman calender it was the Sun that determined the changing of the seasons, yesterday was the Vernal Equinox when day and night are of equal length (approx) so yes I would agree that this signifies the proper first day of spring. The sun is quite a bit older than any calender civilisation!

whataname

Rhotheta wrote: »

Americans generally consider today to be the first day of Spring. Do you think they are right?

no

Laois_Man

Rhotheta wrote: »

Americans generally consider today to be the first day of Spring. Do you think they are right?

No they're not.
They also consider June 21st as the first day of Summer which has to be even worse bolloks considering it's the date that Summer starts edging towards Autumn again

Rhotheta

Laois_Man wrote: »

No they're not.
They also consider June 21st as the first day of Summer which has to be even worse bolloks considering it's the date that Summer starts edging towards Autumn again

June 21 is not "edging towards" Autumn, it's "edging towards" the hottest month of the year.

For what it's worth I regard March 1st to be the first day of Spring.

youtube!

Rhotheta wrote: »

June 21 is not "edging towards" Autumn, it's "edging towards" the hottest month of the year.

For what it's worth I regard March 1st to be the first day of Spring.

Why the 1st? Doesn't it make more sense to be guided by our Sun?

Spring 20th-21st March Equal day and night

Summer 21st-22nd June Longest day

Autumn 21st-22nd Oct Equal day and night

Winter 21st-22nd Dec Shortest day

Seasons are determined by the amount of sunlight , our Calender is wrong, history and in this case the Yanks are absolutely correct.

Rhotheta

youtube! wrote: »

Why the 1st? Doesn't it make more sense to be guided by our Sun?

Spring 20th-21st March Equal day and night

Summer 21st-22nd June Longest day

Autumn 21st-22nd Oct Equal day and night

Winter 21st-22nd Dec Shortest day

Seasons are determined by the amount of sunlight , our Calender is wrong, history and in this case the Yanks are absolutely correct.

I agree it's somewhat arbitrary, but June, July and August are the hottest months so for the sake of simplicity I consider that interval to be summer rather than say the hottest 90 or so days of the year.

Laois_Man

Rhotheta wrote: »

June 21 is not "edging towards" Autumn, it's "edging towards" the hottest month of the year.

For what it's worth I regard March 1st to be the first day of Spring.

July is after the peak of Summer and has less hours of sunshine than June and many here consider July 31st as the last day of Summer. It's quite simple really. It doesn't mean we don't regard July as part of Summer.

seamus

Laois_Man wrote: »

No they're not.
They also consider June 21st as the first day of Summer which has to be even worse bolloks considering it's the date that Summer starts edging towards Autumn again

Actually it's the date which heralds the start of the statistically warmest 3 months of the year. The amount of daylight is somewhat irrelevant.

There is no international politically-agreed definition of the seasons. Scientifically and meteorologically Summer begins at the Solstice (which is around 20-22nd June).
But the actual calendar definition varies by country and by who is publishing the calendar. In Ireland, most calendars start the summer on 1st May in line with the old celtic seasons. This has no basis in anything except tradition.

Some countries don't even have four seasons.

Rhotheta

Laois_Man wrote: »

July is after the peak of Summer and has less hours of sunshine than June and many here consider July 31st as the last day of Summer. It's quite simple really. It doesn't mean we don't regard July as part of Summer.

If you consider July 31st the last day of Summer then you must consider February to be a Spring month (assuming 4 seasons of three months each) which is ludicrous really as it's clearly a winter month judging by average temperatures.

xabi

Mar, Apr, May = Spring
Jun, Jul, Aug = Summer
Sept, Oct, Nov, = Autumn
Dec, Jan, Feb = Winter

Laois_Man

youtube! wrote: »

Why the 1st? Doesn't it make more sense to be guided by our Sun?

Spring 20th-21st March Equal day and night

Summer 21st-22nd June Longest day

Autumn 21st-22nd Oct Equal day and night

Winter 21st-22nd Dec Shortest day

Seasons are determined by the amount of sunlight , our Calender is wrong, history and in this case the Yanks are absolutely correct.

By that logic, Spring should be the 45 days before and after March 21st making Spring starting on February 4th

youtube!

Laois_Man wrote: »

By that logic, Spring should be the 45 days before and after March 21st making Spring starting on February 4th

I should have made it clear that these are the start days of the relevant seasons.

Laois_Man

Rhotheta wrote: »

If you consider July 31st the last day of Summer then you must consider February to be a Spring month (assuming 4 seasons of three months each) which is ludicrous really as it's clearly a winter month judging by average temperatures.

It's not about temperatures
It's about the number of hours of daylight

Rhotheta

Laois_Man wrote: »

It's not about temperatures
It's about the number of hours of daylight

Why?

Laois_Man

youtube! wrote: »

I should have made it clear that these are the start days of the relevant seasons.

I know but why should a season start ar its peak. It's peak should be at its centre. Not it's start

Sir Arthur Daley

I hear Macdonalds is extra busy today.

jgarry28

Feb,Mar,Apr = Spring
May,Jun,Jul = Summer
Aug,Sept,Oct = Autumn
Nov,Dec,Jan = Winter

Or at least that's what we were taught in school.

pickarooney

Rhotheta wrote: »

Why?

Why even argue? They're two perfectly logical interpretations of a fairly inconsequential distinction.

murpho999

jgarry28 wrote: »

Feb,Mar,Apr = Spring
May,Jun,Jul = Summer
Aug,Sept,Oct = Autumn
Nov,Dec,Jan = Winter

Or at least that's what we were taught in school.

How can August be Autumn when it's the peak time for summer holidays?

jgarry28

It was 30 odd years ago in primary school. Seems to be on the basis of the Gaelic Calendar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_calendar

jgarry28

It seems the official line from Met Eireann is Mar-May = Spring; Jun-Aug = Summer; Sept-Nov = Autumn and Dec-Feb = Winter http://www.met.ie/education/pdfs_eng/YP%20Fun%20Facts%20Seasons.pdf so we shoudld probably go by these guys

pickarooney

Those Met guys have their own, weather-influenced agenda.

BraziliaNZ

This comes up 4 times a year in AH. Can we all just accept they thought us wrong in school. How the hell is Feb 1st Spring? It's usually the 2nd if not coldest month of the year. ARGH.

Maximus Alexander

youtube! wrote: »

Why the 1st? Doesn't it make more sense to be guided by our Sun?

Spring 20th-21st March Equal day and night

Summer 21st-22nd June Longest day

Autumn 21st-22nd Oct Equal day and night

Winter 21st-22nd Dec Shortest day

Seasons are determined by the amount of sunlight , our Calender is wrong, history and in this case the Yanks are absolutely correct.

You seem to be unaware of the difference between astronomical seasons and meteorological seasons. Neither is wrong - they are different things.