The Seasons

_Elsa_

Elsa pours herself a hot cup of coffee and heads on over to her computer.  She not sure what titles to put into the search but decides to start with “seasons”. Aha! She finds something interesting.

‘We all know that the Earth makes a complete revolution around the sun once every 365 days, following an orbit that is elliptical in shape. This means that the distance between the Earth and Sun, which is 93 million miles on average, varies throughout the year. During the first week in January, the Earth is about 1.6 million miles closer to the sun. This is referred to as the perihelion. The aphelion, or the point at which the Earth is about 1.6 million miles farther away from the sun, occurs during the first week in July. This fact may sound counter to what we know about seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, but actually the difference is not significant in terms of climate and is NOT the reason why we have seasons. 

Seasons are caused by the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5°. The tilt's orientation with respect to space does not change during the year; thus, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun in June and away from the sun in December, as illustrated in the graphic.’ (Source)

Elsa takes note of the spring dates posted starting on Sat, Mar 20, 2021 and ending on Sun, Jun 20, 2021. So that means that spring has officially started but when she looks outside and the snowflakes are falling faster she doesn’t believe that spring is here.  

She continues her search and finds an article discussing the Meteorological and Astronomical differences in determining the seasons.  She starts scrolling down the webpage and just as she is about to close it out she sees some mention of the different countries so she takes time to read it. 

‘Different Countries, Different Seasons - The question which definition to use divides countries and regions around the world. For example, Australia and New Zealand use the meteorological definition, so spring begins on September 1 each year. In many other countries, both definitions are used, depending on the context.  

In Ireland, St Brigid's Day on February 1 is often thought to mark the beginning of spring in the ancient Celtic calendar system. Some cultures, especially those in South Asia have calendars that divide the year into six seasons, instead of the four that most of us are familiar with. In Finland and Sweden, the dates of the seasons are not based on the calendar at all, but on temperatures. This means that the seasons within each county start and end on different dates, depending on the regions and their climate.

In Iceland, the first day of summer, a national holiday, falls on the first Thursday after April 18.’ (Source) 

Let’s continue - The Farmer’s Almanac, defining seasons

Start at the beginning – The year that spring forgot