Astronomical vs Meteorological - The Season Showdown

[Chris]

I'm torn, but I tend to feel that meteorological seasons line up more with my natural perception of things.

March feels like spring and not winter, December feels like winter and not autumn. Suggesting it's Autumn on the 20th of December would not feel right to me.

What do you all think? I suspect I may be in the minority here on this one, but let's see.

 

[Pattree]

Neither. I think of my patch of UK as having two seasons separated by two short transitions. These transitions change from year to year and seem to be shifting in the longer term.

I tend to be guided by S Spring snowdrops and a certain smell that I associate with Autumn - Winter’s advice note.

 

[Chris]

Neither. I think of my patch of UK as having two seasons separated by two short transitions. These transitions change from year to year and seem to be shifting in the longer term.

I tend to be guided by S Spring snowdrops and a certain smell that I associate with Autumn - Winter’s advice note.

I should've accounted for the Pattreeological option.

 

[Pattree]

It is quite literally treeological

My Ash trees carrying leaf burden = Summer.
My Ash trees bare of leaves = Winter
Spring transition bud swell to bud burst.
Autumn transition leaf fall.

 

[Toddy]

It's the light. I know where I am in the year by the light, and by the weather....sort of, well, it's Scotland, it's fairly common to have every kind of weather in one day, repeatedly
True that for most of the UK though.

 

[TeeDee]

I see peoples chakras

When I see pasty white grey I know its winter time.

When I see bronze/browns/tans I know they've been on Holibobs and its probably summer.

 

[Toddy]

Yeah. I know that one. We call it the blue legs season, which is rapidly overtaken by the 'tops off' one.
In Scotland we call that, "Sun's oot, taps aff", as the denizens boldly try to absorb as much rare UV as possible by exposing as much as possible. Right enough that could be anywhere from March to December

I look so white just now that even scars are pretty much invisible. Most of the freckles have subsided too.
You have to wonder though; why don't our scars tan ?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Other than early spring (thanks to the bulbs) & mid summer (thanks to the heat waves), it is getting increasing difficult to know what season we're actually in. Apparently El Niño is on the way towards the end of this summer & we, including the UK, may be having an even milder & wetter autumn/winter than the one we've just had, so prehaps we'll have to add the monsoon season to the list.
In the meantime, spring is well & truly here, regardless of the date, why ? Because the plants & animals say so. I don't know what system they use but I'm happy to go along with it & not ask too many questions.

 

[mrmike]

Up here in Northumberland we seem to have only had one season last year - wet season.
Don't seem to have had a warm season for a few years!

Other than that I feel that the seasons happen when they happen, they pay no heed to the stars.

 

[Pattree]

I see peoples chakras

When I see pasty white grey I know its winter time.

When I see bronze/browns/tans I know they've been on Holibobs and its probably summer.

So it’s true:
Air travel IS buggering up the seasons!

 

[TLM]

I have a kind of compound procedure: look watch, look out, deduce approximate season, look thermometre, dress accordingly. If green leaves on trees and ground white swear at the green winter.

 

[Broch]

Frogs have arrived en masse and spawning, therefor it's spring.

 

[TeeDee]

Frogs have arrived en masse and spawning, therefor it's spring.

I've told you before , you can't call them that in this day and age.

They are our French cousins.

 

[stonepark]

Average daily temperature, Under 6c, winter, 6c to 12c spring/autumn, 12c plus Summer

In Scotland, when outside,

Under 0c, trousers, tshirt and fleece jumper and warm jacket
0c to 6c shorts, tshirt and fleece jumper, windproof jacket
6c to 12c, shorts, tshirt and fleece jumper, waistcoat
12c to 16c shorts, tshirt, waistcoat
16c to 20c shorts tshirt (taps aff when sun is oot)
20c plus shorts, taps aff

 

[Pattree]

When Britain changed from Fahrenheit to what was then called Centigrade (now Celsius) there was a competition for a saying or poem that would help the transition.

The one that won was:

5, 10 and 21
Winter, Spring and Summer sun.

(It gave you a ballpark figure without harking back to the old system. Decimal money converters had hung around for a very long time.)