For example: the autumnal equinox was yesterday, but meteorological autumn starts September 1st. Why the disconnect?
In: Planetary Science
Meteorology is concerned with weather patterns. In that regard, spring and fall are both transition periods, where the weather patterns are changing and blending from summer to winter and back. They base this on historical weather patterns, and historically, September is when the weather begins to transition. Sometimes it’s hot, sometimes it’s cool, and often it’s back and forth for the entire month.
For autumn, the days are getting shorter, nights getting colder, there’s usually much less humidity even on hot days, and it’s a period of energy loss.
Astronomical seasons are based solely on the relative angle of the sun. The actual full effects of that angle don’t usually appear for about two months. You’ll notice the summer solstice is in June, but August is the hottest. Winter solstice is in December, but February is often coldest. So there’s a lot of factors that go into the weather, and the meteorological aspect is just trying to fit the weather into a pattern we can determine. Plus, people get cranky when you say winter doesn’t start until mid December when they’ve already had snow and below freezing temperatures for weeks.
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