climates in our State of the Climate reports. Learn more about the monthly, seasonal, and yearly global and U.S.

By following the civil calendar and having less variation in season length and season start, it becomes much easier to calculate seasonal statistics from the monthly statistics, both of which are very useful for agriculture, commerce, and a variety of other purposes. The length of the meteorological seasons is also more consistent, ranging from 90 days for winter of a non-leap year to 92 days for spring and summer. Meteorological observing and forecasting led to the creation of these seasons, and they are more closely tied to our monthly civil calendar than the astronomical seasons are. Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere includes March, April, and May meteorological summer includes June, July, and August meteorological fall includes September, October, and November and meteorological winter includes December, January, and February. We generally think of winter as the coldest time of the year and summer as the warmest time of the year, with spring and fall being the transition seasons, and that is what the meteorological seasons are based on. Meteorologists and climatologists break the seasons down into groupings of three months based on the annual temperature cycle as well as our calendar. Thus, the meteorological seasons were born. These variations in season length and season start would make it very difficult to consistently compare climatological statistics for a particular season from one year to the next. Additionally, the elliptical shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun causes the lengths of the astronomical seasons to vary between 89 and 93 days. This also causes the exact date of the solstices and equinoxes to vary. These seasons are reversed but begin on the same dates in the Southern Hemisphere.īecause Earth actually travels around the sun in 365.24 days, an extra day is needed every fourth year, creating what we know as Leap Year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice falls on or around June 21, the winter solstice on or around December 22, the vernal or spring equinox on or around March 21, and the autumnal equinox on or around September 22. The equinoxes mark the times when the sun passes directly above the equator. Earth’s tilt and the sun’s alignment over the equator determine both the solstices and equinoxes. The natural rotation of Earth around the sun forms the basis for the astronomical calendar, in which we define seasons with two solstices and two equinoxes. People have used observable periodic natural phenomena to mark time for thousands of years. So, why do meteorological and astronomical seasons begin and end on different dates? In short, it’s because the astronomical seasons are based on the position of Earth in relation to the sun, whereas the meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle. You may have noticed that meteorologists and climatologists define seasons differently from “regular” or astronomical spring, summer, fall, and winter.

2016 equinox date