HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!
So my boyfriend brought up a very valid point the other day when we had our little snow storm. I wished him a happy first day of winter and his answer was "yeah right its been winter since the beginning of November!"
I thought that was a very valid point, but according to our calendar and the way the earth rotates it wasn't the first day of winter until December 21st. So I thought I would talk about it in my blog.
The Winter Solstice happens when the earths axis is tilted farthest away from the sun. This in turn creates the shortest day/longest night of the year and is the turning of the season (in time) were the days start to get longer! (this of course is in the northern hemisphere).
The Winter Solstice marks the first official ASTRONOMICAL day of winter. Astronomical meaning the first day in the rotation of the earth (or time wise or "in the stars"). However, meteorologists see it a little differently.
(straight from Meteorology Today, C.Donald Ahrens,pg.62)
"In the middle latitudes, summer is defined as the warmest season and winter the coldest season. If the year is divided into four seasons with each season consisting of three months, then the meteorological definition of summer over much of the Northern Hemisphere would be the three warmest months of June, July, and August. Winter would be the three coldest months December, January, February. Autumn would be September, October, and November - the transition between summer and winter. And spring would be March, April and May - the transition between winter and summer."
So in short, meteorological seasons are split up by the months. 12 months in a year divided by 4 seasons = 3 months a piece.
Winter
December, January and February
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| http://www.socksoff.co.uk/walls07.html |
Spring
March, April and May
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| http://decideforyourself.wordpress.com/2008/09/ |
Summer
June, July and August
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/jup3nep/3024878711/ |
Fall
September, October and November
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| http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/Gallery/RFS/slides/fall_foliage_TEMP0465.html |
The other solstices...
Autumnal Equinox = September 22nd (First day of Fall)
Summer Equinox = June 21st (First day of Summer)
Vernal Equinox = March 20th (First day of Spring)
Picture of the Earths tilt at each Solstice
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| http://www.theweathernetwork.com/glossary/wintersolstice |
Summing it up!
So with all the being said. Happy Winter Solstice everyone (even though I'm a few days late) and happy 23rd day of Winter (by the meteorological terms)!!
PS- Meteorologist are logical... its in our name Meteorological!!
Okay, I have an admission: When I was in elementary school and through high school, I thought the Earth's tilt changed to create the seasons. Even though somebody probably corrected my thinking after high school, my incorrect belief always came up in my mind every season over the years...it sort of got burned on my brain and wouldn't go away. Then, one of my silly worries was that maybe, some year, the Earth's tilt might not stop where it was supposed to and we'd go sideways or upside down! Oh my, see the stuff I worry about? I also admit that I didn't pay much attention in elementary school sometime after about the fifth grade.
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