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But if you look at actual temp data, the seasons aren't equal length. A good chunk of September is too warm or hot depending on your climate to be fall, late November is definitely early winter, and early March usually still isn't Spring either.
Again, I tried a real world approach of making winter the coldest 25% of the year, summer the hottest 25%, and spring and fall the middle 50%.
Even take Rochester, NY where I'm from. The normal mean is still below freezing today despite being March 5th (30.5°F/-0.9°C). While by the 11th, the normal mean is 33.5°F/+0.9°C.
Or here in Phoenix, on September 15th, our normal mean is 89°F/31.7°C, which is still hotter than on May 31st (86.5°F/30.3°C).
See where I'm coming from at all?
I live near New York City. Many meteorologists with whom I agree use December 6, March 6, June 6 and September 6 as the seasonal cutoffs. For some reason those dates are very close approximations of what works. In recent years December 5 was the first 6" snowfall in two years, 2002 and 2003. There were outliers such as the October 29, 2011 storm (about 4") and Son of Sandy on November 7, 2012, about 5-6". But the latter was clearly generated by Sandy, a freak event, that entrained lots of cold air in its slow trek away from the area. Often December 5-6 is the start of the first sustained run of subfreezing weather.
In March, while there are often storms after March 6, they take on a wetter textures, with two notable exceptions; March 26, 1956 and April 7, 1982.
As for summer, while the first 90° often happens in May or even April, only a few years (1969, 1976, 2002 and 2009 come to memory) have had a three-day official heat wave earlier than early June.
As for autumn, heat waves often linger into early September and then abruptly end. 1953, 1973 and 2010 are great examples of heat waves suddenly ending around September 3 or 4. Years such as 1983, 1991 and 1993 have had heat waves all the way through calendar summer but again that's rare.
I usually take winter as the coldest 1/4 of the year, so about December 10 - March 10 for here. But then everyone would have their own season definition, but I try to switch threads a week into the month or so. But if the old season thread gets a lot less active, I kinda have to switch
Makes a lot of sense - it would be about 5 Dec-5 Mar for my location.
But overgeneralizing to say that all of September is part of summer makes no sense. Here on 30 Sept, our average high is 65°F (18°C), leaves have already begun turning, the rain is more drizzly again, and there's a possibility of frost at night. Certainly not the same as our summers in the low 80s with green trees and some good thunderstorms.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by YITYNR
Makes a lot of sense - it would be about 5 Dec-5 Mar for my location.
But overgeneralizing to say that all of September is part of summer makes no sense. Here on 30 Sept, our average high is 65°F (18°C), leaves have already begun turning, the rain is more drizzly again, and there's a possibility of frost at night. Certainly not the same as our summers in the low 80s with green trees and some good thunderstorms.
Sept 30th can still be summer like in the southern half of the country. We have a normal high of 96°F(35.6°C) and a normal low of 72°F(22.2°C) that day, and an example of different Sept 30th's we've seen in the last 16 years:
2001= High of 104°F/40°C
2003= High of 107°F/41.7°C
2006= High of 101°F/38.3°C
2008= High of 100°F/37.8°C
2010= High of 107°F/41.7°C
2012= High of 103°F/39.4°C
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YITYNR
Makes a lot of sense - it would be about 5 Dec-5 Mar for my location.
But overgeneralizing to say that all of September is part of summer makes no sense. Here on 30 Sept, our average high is 65°F (18°C), leaves have already begun turning, the rain is more drizzly again, and there's a possibility of frost at night. Certainly not the same as our summers in the low 80s with green trees and some good thunderstorms.
And don't confuse the peak of the season with the fringes. I remember in June of 98 when Rochester had a high of 57°F/13.9°C on the 3rd and 3 back to back lows below 40°F/4.4°C from the 3rd thru the 5th. But still in June
The thing about Oklahoma is the coldest quarter of the year is from November 24-February 24 and the warmest quarter is from June 11-September 11, so spring would be a lot longer than summer for me.
Rochester's coldest day is February 5 at 21.8 and the warmest day is July 18 at 72.5.
December 9 to March 10 is the coldest 25% and the warmest 25% is from June 10 to September 9.
This would give the approximate seasons to be:
Winter: December 9--March 10
Spring: March 11--June 9
Summer: June 10--September 9
Fall: September 10--December 8
This is quite accurate and accounts for our seasonal lag well. The warmest 25% all had means over 65 and the coldest 25% all hadn't means below 31.
It's always seemed to me like the Northeast warms up slower than the Midwest in the spring, and cools off slower than the Midwest in the fall. I have no data to back me up, but that's always how it's seemed.
Anyway, Athens, GA just had its second-warmest meteorological winter on record. Only 1931-1932 was warmer. I'm due a cold Christmas for a change.
"Ice day" for my kids' school today. The first day school has been closed in 8 or 9 years for weather reasons, and only the second time in the 10 years I've been a parent with kids in school.
I think they went a bit overboard. We did have freezing rain overnight but the streets were quite clear and the main highway near where I live was moving at about 100 kmh. Maybe it was really bad outside the city.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by Acajack
"Ice day" for my kids' school today. The first day school has been closed in 8 or 9 years for weather reasons, and only the second time in the 10 years I've been a parent with kids in school.
I think they went a bit overboard. We did have freezing rain overnight but the streets were quite clear and the main highway near where I live was moving at about 100 kmh. Maybe it was really bad outside the city.
Rural roads freeze faster, due to less traffic, therefore less heat generation on the road surface
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