# First Day of Autumn (Aus & NZ) Huh?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 1, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432 "2005-03-01T15:21:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/1 "2005-03-01T15:21:30Z")

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My LOTR daily calendar indicates that today, March 1, is the first day of autumn in Australia and New Zealand. I know the seasons are swapped, but shouldn’t this be happening on March 22 or thereabouts (equinox?).

Oz and Kiwi Dopers please help.

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/2 "2005-03-01T15:30:24Z")

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[Cecil explains](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html) that having the “official” boundaries of seasons be on the equinoxes and solstices seems to be a uniquely American tradition with no particular basis in history or culture.

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/3 "2005-03-01T17:18:37Z")

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Well there you go! Thanks **friedo**!

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**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/4 "2005-03-02T06:04:59Z")

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I, too, was surprised - in the “other direction”, of course - when I learned of the seasons not starting on 1st of a month in some places.

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**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/5 "2005-03-02T06:14:16Z")

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That’s odd.

As a schoolboy, this Aussie kid smugly “knew” that the seasons didn’t really start on the first day of March, June, September, and December, but rather on the 21-22-ish solstice/equinoxy type days, when all the really trooly brainy scientific types said it did.

I always assumed therefore there were popular and scientific dates, and that all countries in the Southern Hemisphere shared our Australian ones, and they were simply reversed up north. I never realised it was so messy.

There ya go.

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**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-day-of-autumn-aus-nz-huh/292432/6 "2005-03-02T08:28:53Z")

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In fact there is a lag between shortening days and cooler weather. Particularly as most NZ and Australian residents live on the coast. The ocean is an effective insulator, so the effect is cushioned.

So, in a roundabout way it makes a kind of sense. Although IIRC the week difference isn’t adequate for the lag to catch up. More like a month.