I’ve lived here in Kansas City all my life and it’s always seemed that from an atmosphere and social standpoint, the day after Thanksgiving is the start of winter.
It’s not unusual to have a big snowstorm near Halloween around here. But late November/early December is the point where the novelty of a new season wears off and you settle in for the long game. Everyone always looks forward to winter ending in March, but in truth March comes in like a lion and goes out like an angrier lion - it’s cold until mid April.
In Memphis? Winter is January and February, typically with one snowstorm (occasionally two) with an inch of snow that lies on the ground for 36 to 48 hours.
We live at 11,200 feet in the Colorado mountains. Summer is August 3rd. The rest is up for grabs.
I chained up my plow truck last weekend, because I know I have to be ready. Thirty feet of snowfall for the winter is not unusual. My plow truck and tractor gets quite a workout. So… Winter is starting now. And snow will be in the yard/forest till late May.
Winter is long and summers are fleeting. BUT I don’t have a conventional yard, so I don’t mow grass. There is that. 
For you, winter is mid June - August.
I live in the South Bay, so we’ve got a different weather pattern. Not much winter, really, but by mid-December the few deciduous trees that we have are bare, and stay that way through the end of Feb. We have what might be considered winter for about 6-8 weeks. Not much more.
I live in Maryland. Regardless of what the calendar says, to me winter starts the day it snows and I don’t say, “It can’t be snowing yet!”
Meterological winter in the U.S. is December through February. Works for us temperate climate folks.
November and March are “locking” and “unlocking” months (I think Kurt Vonnegut may have come up with that).
Rivers flow uphill
blue turns into grey
winter follows springtime
morning ends the day
- Genesis
Lately it doesn’t start snowing until january. So ‘real’ winter runs January until mid march anymore.
It used to be December until February. December doesn’t feel like a fall month (being december and all) but lately it feels like a transition month between fall and winter. If we do get snow in december it is light and melts in a day or two.
Chicago. I’ll say December 1-April 1. Snow can happen pretty much from Halloween until April 15… March can be spring like, but it’s been rare in recent years
Well if you’re going to be pedantic about it and insist on the “official” definition, it’s the Solstice.
Also New Hampshire. Winter starts with the first snowfall that stays on the ground instead of melting within the week. We’ve had several years with Halloween snow - even heavy snow on one recent occasion - but it’s typically gone a few days later. Thanksgiving snow? Those events are more likely to kick of the whitening of the ground that lasts until late March or early April. Spring, of course, is after mud season, and when things begin to turn green again.
It’s winter when there’s enough snow to make the ground look more white than green.
Note, however, that the last day of autumn can be and usually is somewhat later than the first day of winter, and likewise for all the other seasons. It’s even possible (though not common around here) for the first day of summer to come before the last day of winter (like a couple of times when I was in Montana when it snowed heavily in June). The seasons overlap somewhat.
When I have to wear a sweatshirt and a jacket at the same time. A couple of weeks in January, in other words.
I don’t think it’s really been winter in Sacramento for many years.
Climatically, winter sets in around here when the daily highs drop below 90. Winter started a week or two ago. The true dead of winter is when the daily highs are in the 70s. i.e. January & a week in Feb.
Sociologically, winter starts when all the damn northerners arrive. Which is about 1/2 of them right after US Thanksgiving and the rest right between Christmas & New Years. Winter ends when they leave. About half go in mid March and the rest by Apr 15th, which date has some special significance for Canadian health insurance eligibility.
This is the best definition for where I live. I’m fine with definitions based on snow fall or temperature, but I can’t stand astronomic definitions. They seem asinine and out of touch with everything that’s actually relevant to defining seasons. Of all the things I associate with winter, the position of the earth’s orbit is at the very bottom. The solstice is a better mid-point of winter, if anything, but really there’s much better definitions.
When you have to close the doors, windows and put on a sheet. Usually in January, for about 5 days, the temperature may be in the 60’s.
I live in the tropics.
Pagan here. Our winter season starts with the observance of Samhain on November 1st, the start of the pagan year and the biggest festival for us.
The solstices and equinoxes are the middle of our seasons.
This is two questions.
Winter, as a season, is December, January and February.
Winter weather, however, kicks in around November and sticks around until early April. If it doesn’t get into the 50s at some point in the day, it’s winter.