# Is it "Summer" in Australia right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467 "2011-01-13T16:15:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/101 "2022-06-14T14:14:22Z")
I suspect that also depends somewhat on what “hot” at Christmas means to you \*- if I lived somewhere where the temperature is usually 70F ( I think that’s around 20C? ) in summer , I might make a roast on Sunday or a holiday. But my oven pretty much never gets turned on between June and September - and certainly not for hours to make some kind of roast that I won’t even want to eat if the temperature is in the mid 80s - mid90s F ( say 29-35 C) which it often is in July and August. \* I’ve been places where people consider 60F “hot” and shorts weather and other places where people consider 60F “cold” and jacket weather - it seems to depend on what you are used to. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/102 "2022-06-14T14:42:00Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’ve been places where people consider 60F “hot” and shorts weather and other places where people consider 60F “cold” and jacket weather - it seems to depend on what you are used to. It can be the same place, just different times of year. After a cold winter, people are all out in shorts and t-shirts on the first 60F day of spring. But in the fall they’ll throw on a layer when the temps dip down to 60F. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/103 "2022-06-14T15:27:30Z")
It averages around 27° and sometimes gets in the high 30s - that’s historically, lately it’s been 40°+ in summer. I don’t see what that has to do with using an oven or not, though, it’s not like we don’t cook food for 3 months of the year. I mean, how am I going to make my pavlova without an oven? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/104 "2022-06-14T16:13:51Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I don’t see what that has to do with using an oven or not, though, it’s not like we don’t cook food for 3 months of the year. I cook plenty of food without using an oven in the summer - there’s the stovetop and the grill/barbeque , neither of which heat up my kitchen/first floor the way having the oven on for hours does. I _might_ turn the oven on for an hour or so to make a dessert for a special occasion but that’s it. Not 2-5 hours depending on what it is I’m roasting and how many people I’m feeding. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/105 "2022-06-14T16:19:58Z")
My oven doesn’t heat its surroundings the way yours seems to. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/106 "2022-06-14T19:21:21Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > Do southern hemisphere Christians sing a lot of traditional Christmas songs around December 25th, all about delightfully frosty wintry weather, Jack Frost’s nose, riding through the snow etc, or are they all “What Northern hemisphere bullshit is that?” There’s a bit of White Christmas musical action in late December, but the best Australian Christmas song is a very secular one about [drinking white wine in the sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q), by Tim Minchin, and apart from being very beautiful, captures our Christmas time very well. There’s also one about [making gravy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYqIF2XkqKU) by Paul Kelly, which is in the national canon. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/107 "2022-06-14T20:08:52Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > … the best Australian Christmas song is a very secular one about [drinking white wine in the sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q), by Tim Minchin, and apart from being very beautiful, captures our Christmas time very well. That is very beautiful. I have never heard it before, but that’s not surprising, since I live in the (Sometimes) Frozen North. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/108 "2022-06-14T20:51:41Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > Do southern hemisphere Christians sing a lot of traditional Christmas songs around December 25th Most of the traditional Christmas songs have nothing to do with winter weather. That’s mostly just the Boomer songs you’re thinking of. And yes, Boomers might seem “old” to you, but by Christmas song standards, they’re just a passing fad: One of the songs we sing, for instance, the “modern” version is from the 1850s, based on a tune from the 15th century, and lyrics originally from the 8th century. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/109 "2022-06-14T21:11:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Most of the traditional Christmas songs have nothing to do with winter weather. Tell me another. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/110 "2022-06-15T05:59:44Z")
Which ones do you know that feature Winter weather? There’s _Good King Wenceslas_, _In the Bleak Midwinter_, and _The First Noel_ I can recall offhand, and then plenty that don’t mention cold weather at all. Which reminds me, one other advantage of a Southern Hemisphere Christmas: [Carols by Candlelight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol#Australia,_South_Africa_and_New_Zealand) in lovely warm summer evenings. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/111 "2022-06-15T06:24:25Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > There’s also one about [making gravy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYqIF2XkqKU) by Paul Kelly, which is in the national canon. Don’t forget Chisel’s [Home and Broken Hearted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypsw2tMYVZw). It captures the question of weather at Christmas as well as life’s other little torments. Making Gravy has become something of the nation’s default Christmas song. There does seem to be a bit of a pattern here. I first heard Tim Minchen doing his Christmas song on the same tour as that video. He is something of a national treasure. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/112 "2022-06-15T09:19:51Z")
Oh, I don’t know Christmas songs at all. I’m not a Christian, never have been, and I don’t know a “traditional” song from one written a mere 200 years ago, which according to Chronos, is a recent popular tune or something, but the three you named will suffice for someone to give a straight answer to my question. Do you giggle as you sing In The Bleak MidWInter in your bathing suits, or is singing a song about chilly weather old hat to you? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/113 "2022-06-15T09:46:46Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > I’m not a Christian, never have been, Neither am I, and I know plenty, as well as which are old and which are recent. > [@Roger\_That](#): > > Do you giggle as you sing In The Bleak MidWInter in your bathing suits, or is singing a song about chilly weather old hat to you? I don’t generally go about in a bathing suit in public at night, which is the traditional time and place to sing Christmas songs. But I see nothing unusual about singing them, no. They’re just cultural dressing that goes with the holiday, they don’t have to be linked to the physical season. I 'd feel differently if it was an _actual_ mid Winter celebration, where the season mattered, like the way my pagan associates change their [festival calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year) compared to the Northern Hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/114 "2022-06-15T09:48:45Z")
I work for a large truly global company and if we are talking about a purely local issue (eg plans to order suntan for sale in the US) we will just say “summer”. But when speaking about say global supply chain issues (which we do a lot unfortunately) we will be careful to say “northern hemisphere summer” (which has become sadly “low COVID season”). We’ve also learned to say “autumn” rather than “fall”, as it seems in the non-English speaking world that’s a much more commonly used by second language English speakers. We are also very careful to designate either the specific time zone or “your time/our time” when talking about deadlines or ETAs. New employees often struggle with this. Those who get huffy about it don’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/115 "2022-06-15T10:33:40Z")
Don’t want to derail the thread, but I’d just like to point out that the graphic I made to explain the moon’s orientation: [![](http://guanolad.com/stuff/moon_orientation.jpg) ](http://guanolad.com/stuff/moon_orientation.jpg) …has been literally copied by other websites. [![](https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2018-11/TheMoonsOrientation.jpg) ](https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2018-11/TheMoonsOrientation.jpg) [![](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/4/2019/11/moon-cover-2fa5902.jpg) ](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/4/2019/11/moon-cover-2fa5902.jpg) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Upside-down_Moon_view_from_Southern_hemisphere.webp/933px-Upside-down_Moon_view_from_Southern_hemisphere.webp.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Upside-down_Moon_view_from_Southern_hemisphere.webp/933px-Upside-down_Moon_view_from_Southern_hemisphere.webp.png) > **[r/interestingasfuck - People in Australia see moon upside down](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/9wcv3a/people_in_australia_see_moon_upside_down/)** > > 6,127 votes and 265 comments so far on Reddit ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/116 "2022-06-15T10:57:41Z")
Oh well I guess all you can do is be flattered, right? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/117 "2022-06-15T11:26:01Z")
Indeed I am. And flabberghasted. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/118 "2022-06-15T11:40:27Z")
That image doesn’t seem to be exposed on your website by any obvious link. How would it have been found? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/119 "2022-06-15T12:14:31Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > We’ve also learned to say “autumn” rather than “fall”, as it seems in the non-English speaking world that’s a much more commonly used by second language English speakers. It’s also used by a lot of us _first_ language speakers. While fall does occur (more as an archaism) , it always, always stands out as an Americanism, right up there with faucet and elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467/120 "2022-06-15T12:33:34Z")
“Fall” does have another meaning, and so it can occasionally be ambiguous (though I can’t come up with an example off the top of my head). And it doesn’t really have a good adjectival form (“fall equinox” just sounds silly, for instance). So I’ll often use “autumn” even as an American. But yeah, I do also still use “fall” a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-summer-in-australia-right-now/567467.md?page=7)