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Same for Minneapolis – we still have a substantial snowpack, and it's supposed to be in the 70s by early next week. There is going to be some severe flooding all the way up and down the Mississippi this spring.
I think I-40 is still the debate line, but it definitely appears the lengths of seasons is changing almost everywhere.
Since I'm most familiar with Northeast Ohio, I'll use it as an example. It always had and still has four distinct seasons.
But growing up (80s/90s) it usually was:
Fall: mid-September to December ... 2.5 months
Winter: December through mid March ... 3.5 months
Spring: mid-March through May ... 2.5 months
Summer: June through mid-September ...3.5 months
I'm sure there are plenty of deviations, but for the most part it fell kind of like that.
The past 10 years, though, still have 4 seasons but they are pretty different.
Fall: Mid-October to January.. 2.5 months
Winter: January to April... 3 months (this year excluded with there being virtually no winter and a bunch of extremes)
Spring: April to mid-May ... 1.5 months
Summer: Mid-May to mid-October ... 5 months
Still four seasons (though extreme swings seem to be greater). Spring is becoming even shorter (and starting later) and Summer is becoming longer. I'm sure it can be looked up, but I would guess that between May 15 to June 15 and then again the month of September (and maybe through mid-October), there have been more highs in the 80s than there is in the 60s over the past decade.
In the eastern half I would say somewhere just north of Orlando. I'm not sure about the West, I don't consider Los Angeles and San Diego as having four seasons but Las Vegas does have a winter that is definitely colder than the summer. I'm not sure about the climate in San Francisco.
I would consider year round tropical to be Orlando, South Florida, and the Keys. People claim the Deep South including Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle don't have seasons but its not true IMHO. I'm from Louisiana and while our winter is short we do have a winter where the leaves change color and we have to have the heat running. I think Louisiana has the perfect winter length, just long enough to be a nice change but never so cold that its miserable like when I lived in the Northeast, but never too long. South Florida, Hawaii, and Southern California to me would be "boring" weather.
IMO that's the "three seasons" line, not the four seasons line which much have a greater semblance of winter. If you typically receive an 80 degree day in the coldest month and usually don't get a freeze each year, then no, you don't even have a three-season climate. I associate "fall" and "spring" as having some frosts/freezes over the course of the season, and those parts of Florida rarely, or even never experience them. Just a "dry season" and a "humid season". North of that line in FL (approximately US Route 192, but a little further north on the east coast up to around Titusville), you have a noticeable amount of deciduous vegetation that sheds its leaves every winter, has a brief stick season, then regrows buds and leaves well before the normal springtime in most other places). In most of the Deep South, snow is rare, so your colder half of the year is still distinctively divided into "fall" and "spring" phases, with the "stick season" in the middle really being what late fall/early spring is in places that have four proper season. Summer of course still dominates just like winter does in most of Canada.
Another factor regarding a more proper winter is where cool-season grasses turn at least partially brown over the course of some part of the winter. Here in the central Maryland, even though snow can be rare some years and we just had one of the mildest winters, the grass still turned brown over most yards and parks, something you'll never quite see in the Deep South which has green grasses all winter. Sure, the "Brown" period may be as little as six weeks like this year, but its still there. Usually, it's around 9-12 weeks. But I concur that overall, if you're south of I-40/US 70, you don't have four seasons, and in between that US Route 50 (with the exception of the Appalachian/Ozark portions) is the debatable zone.
IMO that's the "three seasons" line, not the four seasons line which much have a greater semblance of winter. If you typically receive an 80 degree day in the coldest month and usually don't get a freeze each year, then no, you don't even have a three-season climate. I associate "fall" and "spring" as having some frosts/freezes over the course of the season, and those parts of Florida rarely, or even never experience them. Just a "dry season" and a "humid season". North of that line in FL (approximately US Route 192, but a little further north on the east coast up to around Titusville), you have a noticeable amount of deciduous vegetation that sheds its leaves every winter, has a brief stick season, then regrows buds and leaves well before the normal springtime in most other places). In most of the Deep South, snow is rare, so your colder half of the year is still distinctively divided into "fall" and "spring" phases, with the "stick season" in the middle really being what late fall/early spring is in places that have four proper season. Summer of course still dominates just like winter does in most of Canada.
Another factor regarding a more proper winter is where cool-season grasses turn at least partially brown over the course of some part of the winter. Here in the central Maryland, even though snow can be rare some years and we just had one of the mildest winters, the grass still turned brown over most yards and parks, something you'll never quite see in the Deep South which has green grasses all winter. Sure, the "Brown" period may be as little as six weeks like this year, but its still there. Usually, it's around 9-12 weeks. But I concur that overall, if you're south of I-40/US 70, you don't have four seasons, and in between that US Route 50 (with the exception of the Appalachian/Ozark portions) is the debatable zone.
Actually most of the Deep South also has brown grass, including North Florida. You have to go down to like South Florida and maybe much of Central Florida to see year round green grass.
Actually most of the Deep South also has brown grass, including North Florida. You have to go down to like South Florida and maybe much of Central Florida to see year round green grass.
It also depends on the types of grasses that are planted. Some grasses stay very green in winter while others go dormant.
Several weeks of 80-90s. Enough to go dipping in Lake Washington and feel refreshed.
Are you native to Seattle?
My hubby and I moved from So. Cal to Vancouver, Wa. in 2020 (sadly had to move away 2 years later for family reasons, but might be back!) and we rented a very nice little upstairs apartment that had no air conditioning. We were both, "how 'bout that, it's so nice here we don't even need an air conditioner!"
Well, there were times during the summer months where it was in the 90's, and even got up to a hundred a few times. (We also experienced that unusual heat dome in summer of 21 that lasted a good week or so) and suddenly we were, "HOW CAN YOU HAVE NO AIR CONDITIONER IN THIS APARTMENT!" Ha ha!
Management just shrugged and explained it's just not a requirement as much as other places because the summers are "short". Yes, true... summers where we used to live could pretty much last from May to October some years, Vancouver, Wa. was pretty much July, August and early September for the most part, but that still quite a stretch is you ask me. We ended up buying 2 portables, one for the bedroom and one for the living room, but cooking in the kitchen was a pain.
I do wonder if some of the apartments without air are installing at least wall units now since things are indeed warming up.
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Never below zero
