Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox. June 21st and December 21st are the Summer and Winter Solstices, respectively. So when to seasons actually start (calender-wise)?
It seems to me that if the Summer Solstice is the day with the most sunlight, then it should be considered the middle of summer. But others seem to think that it should be the start of summer. Same with the Winter Solstice and the equinoxes.
Here’s an old column that addresses some of that:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html
Q.E.D
September 23, 2003, 1:25am
3
The seasons start on the equinoxes or solstices. In other words, the summer solstice is the first day of summer (in the northern hemisphere).
From Earl Snake-Hips Tucker ’s link:
He notes that meteorologists define summer simply as June, July, and August. “For practical purposes, the meteorological definition is the best one, being very closely to the [weather] statistics,” he says.
This makes more sense to me than declaring summer to start on the Solstice, for the reason I stated earlier.
ftg
September 23, 2003, 1:58am
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Q.E.D. , read the SD Classic link. The solstices/equinoxes starting the seasons is just a recent bizarreness in the US. Hopefully, it will go away.
Q.E.D
September 23, 2003, 2:02am
6
Yes, only Cecil’s article is (alas) incorrect (or at least outdated). From the NOAA website:
In simple terms, the solstice is the date at which the sun appears directly overhead at noon the furthest north (the tropic of Cancer) and the furthest south (the tropic of Capricorn) during the year. The summer and winter solstices mark the beginnings of those astronomical seasons . Between these two latitudes are found the Tropics. Summer officially starts with the solstice on about the 21st of June, when the sun is furthest north. Yet the warmest part of the day is usually several hours after noon, when the sun is highest in the sky. The lag is due to the time required for ground and water to heat up. The longest day of the year occurs at the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. On this day, north of the Arctic circle in Alaska there is continuous 24-hour sunshine. Along the U.S.-Canadian border the sun appears 16.25 hours, and in southern Texas and Florida, 13.75 hours of sunshine are all that’s available. The winter solstice is about 22 December. It is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also the first day of the Southern Hemisphere summer, and on this day the atmosphere above the South Pole receives more light from the sun than any other place in the world, yet the temperature averages only about -10 degrees F.
Bolding mine.