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why is ireland one month out on the seasons?

  • 07-02-2010 9:52am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 17,822 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    probably been asked before but as my wife is German get in the neck when we move to a new season. So why is Feb Spring, Aug Autumn etc.?

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 11,389 ✭✭✭✭Saruman


    It is a pagan thing. We have a different calendar.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,310 ✭✭✭Trogdor


    Yup i think that was the pagan calender or something, meteorologically though here february is not spring it is still winter:)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,776 ✭✭✭Joe Public




  • Registered Users Posts: 11,389 ✭✭✭✭Saruman


    In the other thread the last poster (currently) said:
    vinylbomb wrote: »
    Ireland only has 2 seasons - Light Winter and Dark Winter

    This is not true, we do not even have a proper winter compared to the Northern half of the US. (A few weeks this January aside)
    We have no real seasons, it is just slightly warmer in the spring/summer months than it is in the Autumn/Winter months.

    Ireland has one season, cloudy, rainy with the odd stretch of sunshine every now and again*

    *This can happen at any time during the year. If we get some sun in the winter then the Summer has no work to do.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 453 ✭✭gonnaplayrugby


    how about our epic long days during the summer months where no matter how **** the weather has been during the day it seems to get nice after 5pm


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    how about our epic long days during the summer months where no matter how **** the weather has been during the day it seems to get nice after 5pm

    I know about the long days, but I haven't experienced the nice weather after 5pm? :confused:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 453 ✭✭gonnaplayrugby


    im from southside dublin, it happens here


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2 pesactivist


    Our seasons are organised around our particular four quarter days (each one beginning at sunset on the eve of the quarter day and ending with that day's sunset):

    31st October to 1st November ... Samhain (start of the New Year and Winter)
    31st January to 1st February .... Imbolc (start of Spring)
    30th April to 1st May .... Bealtinne (start of Summer)
    31st July to 1st August ... Lughnasa (Start of Autumn)


  • Registered Users Posts: 338 ✭✭kindredspirit


    I regard the seasons this way,

    November, December, January and February as winter,

    March and April as Spring.

    May, June, July, August as Summer.

    September and October as Autumn.

    The idea that all the seasons should each be equal and three months long seems rather childish. Spring and Autumn are just transitions of two months each between the two main seasons.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,564 ✭✭✭Pangea


    Saruman wrote: »
    Ireland has one season, cloudy, rainy with the odd stretch of sunshine every now and again*
    Thats a load of codswallop
    seasons are so bigger than weather .
    If there was one season then the leaves would never fall in autumn, there would be no snow in winter, no daffodils in spring.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 11,389 ✭✭✭✭Saruman


    Pangea wrote: »
    Thats a load of codswallop
    seasons are so bigger than weather .
    If there was one season then the leaves would never fall in autumn, there would be no snow in winter, no daffodils in spring.


    You thought I was serious in that statement? How did that happen? ;)

    Which spring do the Daffodils flower in Ireland? Irish spring or rest of the Western world spring?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,564 ✭✭✭Pangea


    Saruman wrote: »
    You thought I was serious in that statement? How did that happen? ;)

    Which spring do the Daffodils flower in Ireland? Irish spring or rest of the Western world spring?
    I have no interest in responding to such stupid questions...................


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,379 ✭✭✭snow ghost


    The traditional celtic seasons... does anyone else think our traditional seasons are more accurate for Ireland than the meterological ones?

    I notice our traditional summer season is usually more accurate, e.g. May and June are more summer like here than August.


  • Registered Users Posts: 460 ✭✭boardswalker


    People often query the timing of the seasons but rarely question midsummer or midwinter. Midsummer is the summer solstice - the longest day - and midwinter being the winter solstice - the shortest day.

    Midwinter is December 21 and Midsummer is Jun 21. Winter then is 6.5 weeks (45 days) each side of midwinter and summer is 6.5 weeks (45 days) either side of midsummer. That would put summer around 7 May to 5 Aug roughly. Winter would be around 5 Nov to 4 February roughly.

    So approximating summer to May, June, July and winter to Nov Dec Jan would make sense with midwinter and midsummer falling roughly halfway in both periods. Spring and Autumn are then Feb, Mar, Apr for spring and Aug, Sep, Oct for autumn.

    Don't know if many will accept that, but that's how I think we decided on the months for each season.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    Pangea wrote: »
    I have no interest in responding to such stupid questions...................


    The irony . . .i think you just did ;)

    Daffidols generally flower from the 1st march onwards . . .


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,913 ✭✭✭Danno


    The seasons in Ireland can be both defined by:

    A - The amount of daylight we recieve

    B - The prevailing weather conditions

    In case A above, our pagan calendar of Nov, Dec and Jan can be called winter, however case B would cover Dec, Jan and Feb.




  • fwiw, I've noticed that the trees have already started to bud.
    So I suppose you could define spring as starting when the plants start grow for the new season.

    In which case, spring starts in February, don't feel like it though!


  • Registered Users Posts: 585 ✭✭✭Chicken Run


    You can tell when it's summer in Ireland - the rain gets warmer !!


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,041 ✭✭✭who the fug


    You can tell when it's summer in Ireland - the rain gets warmer !!

    and starts falling vertically


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,388 ✭✭✭gbee


    neither are correct:

    Setting the astronomical seasons is physical and cannot be changed. However the meterocogical seasons vary with the weather worldwide.

    It is nonsense to segment the season equally throughout the years, birds and farmers certainly don't do that. In fact many weather forcasters base their predictions more on the animal behaviour than in the sciences.

    In Ireland especially we may have as little of two weeks of Spring after five months of winter and so on.


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  • gbee wrote: »
    In Ireland especially we may have as little of two weeks of Spring after five months of winter and so on.

    Well, if last year was anything to go by, you could be right.

    Winter: Jan - early March.
    Spring: mid March - early May.
    Summer: mid may to late May. :rolleyes:
    Autumn: June - October,
    Winter November - December.

    Weather is interesting.....;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,179 ✭✭✭snow scorpion


    You can tell when it's summer in Ireland - the rain gets warmer !!

    That one made me laugh. :D

    Everybody agrees that early April is springtime in Ireland? Good. I have a half-marathon to run in Ballybunion.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Deep Easterly


    While I accept that spring does not begin till March, my belief is that the real spring feeling does not begin until May in Ireland. March & April can at times be equally as cold as Feb with little growth. They are horrible months. Bring on May.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,388 ✭✭✭gbee


    A point about the Daffodils. Daffs like cold weather and are generally portrayed as breaking through snow, and are heralded as the sign that Winter is ending and Spring can't be far away.

    Horticulturists on the boards may confirm that 'warm weather' dafs don't shine as brightly and wither and die sooner giving a short display, as opposed to the one that break ice and snow to bloom.

    Daffs should start to bloom still in Winter and the Spring should arrive as they fade ~ but they will bloom regardless, the weather will dictate how long and how bright.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1 Palio


    I live in Ireland, its hard to determine if February is a spring or winter month. This year snow and hail stones fell for the first 3 weeks of February , so I would not consider that type if weather to be spring. I know there are many opinions on this, for me February is a winter month.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,492 ✭✭✭pleas advice


    Spring starts on 20th of March for me


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,907 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    silverharp wrote: »
    probably been asked before but as my wife is German get in the neck when we move to a new season. So why is Feb Spring, Aug Autumn etc.?
    The real issue is why your German wife assumes that what is conventional in Germany must be good throughout the world. ;)

    Seasons may or may not be loosely related to weather, but they are related to climate and to (agri)culture, so they vary from place to place. Much of the world has only two seasons ("wet" and "dry") while others have more than 4 seasons. Where I live there are six seasons, which refer to the traditional food sources available at different times of the year. Even where there are four seasons, there is no reason why they should be the same four seasons, celebrated on the same dates, as in Germany.

    Boardwalker correctly identifies the basis for the Irish seasons. Summer is the quarter that revolves around midsummer (there's a bit of a clue in the name), winter the quarter that revolves around midwinter, and spring and autumn revolve - you can see where I'm going with this - around the spring and autumn solstices. The Celts had festivals at midsummer, midwinter and the two solstices, and four more slightly smaller festivals at the mid-points between these four days. The latter four festivals were considered to mark the turning point of the seasons. When the Roman calendar of 12 months was adopted, the conventional turning points of the seasons got moved to the nearest 1st of the month. Perfectly rational and sensible. I don't know why the Germans have yet to discover it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,279 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    From what I've seen,

    winter ... late January to mid-March in two years out of fifty

    spring ... mid-March to late July

    summer ... could be any day mid-July to early August and then again a week in Sept

    autumn ... most of summer and then on into winter, blends imperceptibly into spring.


  • Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 17,620 Mod ✭✭✭✭DOCARCH


    Ahhh....Summer. :) My favorite day of the year! :pac:


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  • Registered Users Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Mullaghteelin


    You will find some old farts on UK weather boards insist that Spring starts on March 21st, and many Americans will agree with them.
    They must think the Irish are mad eccentric altogether, with our Spring half over before theirs begins.


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