Summer 2012

On June 20th at 7:09 PM EDT, summer will officially be here. 

 

Or was it already here?

 

For those of you who thought all the seasons’ beginning and end dates were set in stone, you might be surprised to learn that’s far from the case. 

 

Countries such as Austria, Denmark, New Zealand and Russia, as well as parts of the UK, use the meteorological beginning of the season – going by temperature patterns - rather than using the astronomical beginning of the season, as we do in America, which views the summer solstice (the longest day of the year) as the summer starting point.

 

According to meteorologists, summer really occupies the entire month of June, as well as July and August – with autumn starting with the 1st of September. 

 

And then there’s Chinese Astronomy to deal with.  According to their reckoning, summer starts on or around the 5th of May and ends around August 6th.   In Southeast Asia, the monsoon season makes the call – to them, summer begins in March and lasts until May or early June, ending with the onset of the torrential rains.

 

Ireland, quite frankly, can’t quite make up its mind when summer happens.  The national meteorological service says summer encompasses June, July and August.  But the Irish Calendar says summer begins May 1st and ends August 1st. 

 

Is there any definitive way to decide when summer actually does begin for everyone?  Of course.  As all of us in the good ol’ USA know…summer starts on Memorial Day weekend!