is there a word for the lag (about one month in these climes) by which seasonal weather follows the calendar seasons?
(as an example, the coldest day on average here is Jan. 20, one month after winter solstice.)
Gregory brought things back in line.
If you count winter as starting in late December the lag isn't nearly as bad as it would be if you count it as beginning in early November.
But, I don't think there's a single word for it. It usually is known as "the lag of the seasons" or something like that. Here's an explanation:
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/seasons.htmlScroll down a little bit.
There may not be a single word for it, but thanks to your link, I learned a new one: insolation
the coldest day on average here is Jan. 20, one month after winter solstice - Why should a season start with an extreme? This would require nature to make sudden jumps, which is not in her ... nature.
>Why should a season start with an extreme?
that's not the question to hand. winter solstice is the shortest day -- at first blush you'd think it would be the coldest, having gotten gradually colder as the days shorten, and that the weather would be on the upswing from there; but that point comes one month later. that's the lag.
Why should a season start with an extreme?
What I said about depending on when you consider the season to start. If December twenty-umpth is midwinter then winter starts around November ooth. That's the way we used to figure it time back way back.
Thank you, Faldage! I've been arguing this one for years! In the old Celtic calendar, November 1st was the first day of winter (and, incidentally, the first day of the new year) and May 1st the first day of summer. This places the solstices smack in the middle of the season and not as "first day of..." as we perpetually hear from people who clearly aren't listening to themselves....
>>clearly aren't listening to themselves.
That's going a littlel far, I think, no? [/friendly] That the solstice should be the *start of the season is something I've wondered about -- but I'm willing to accept the definition, if, indeed, it is so defined.[/also friendly]
Added: Faldage's url says the 'atmosphere' stores heat. I would think the ocean was the thermal mass. But, speaking of definitions, I wonder why the atmosphere and oceans are considered separate, altogether, and not as a single system.
One part of my job is to do cognitive screening assessments on my patients; they get a point if they can tell me the season according to the calendar. But it feels mean to score them as wrong for saying it's spring since the daffodils are finished and the tulips are just in their prime now.
(On the down side our summer usually comes on a Thursday and lasts until Friday at noon)
>(On the down side our summer usually comes on a Thursday and lasts until Friday at noon)
Your summer's that long now? Global warming really must be kicking in.
> Global warming really must be kicking in.
Not kidding. The last of my daffodils are only just finishing this week, and they have been continuously (sequentially) blooming since January 15th! We have already had to cut our grass over a dozen times.
When I was at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff I had a professor from Minnesota. One of his favorite observations was that in Minnesota there were two seasons: winter and July. In Flagstaff there were also two seasons: winter and Tuesday.
summer usually comes on a Thursday and lasts until Friday at noon)
We had summer in the Pacific Northwest a couple of years ago. I think it was on a Tuesday.
that's not the question to hand. winter solstice is the shortest day -- at first blush you'd think it would be the coldest, having gotten gradually colder as the days shorten, and that the weather would be on the upswing from there; but that point comes one month later. that's the lag.The friction that the surface of the planet has to give to the atmosphere takes awhile to... ahem... *take* - (I suppose, in this case... *give).
summer in the Pacific Northwest a couple of years ago
It doesn't count whinging about not having a summer if you don't have a winter to contrast it with.
In the four years I've lived here in upstate New York, I've learned we have two seasons: winter and road repair.
Some years ago CBC produced a show called "The Canadian Conspiracy" about how Canadians were taking over the States (mainly by infiltrating the entertainment industry). Every time they showed a shot of Ottawa it was snowing. Ottawa, January 1972, snowing; March 1973, snowing; July 1973, snowing. The only shot in which they didn't show snow was one done in August.
And then there's the seasons in Northern Ontario - frostbite and flybite.
if you don't have a winter to contrast it with.
We sorta had winter this year. It snowed one evening and snowed a bit more during the night, but it warmed up by eleven o'clock the next morning and all melted away. It was fun while it lasted.
at first blush you'd think it would be the coldest, having gotten gradually colder as the days shorten
Um, well--the number of daylight hours isn't necessarily a reliable indicator of temperatures. Depends on where on earth you're talking about, I reckon.
I have always thought of the seasons starting when the calendar says they do: starting into their appropriate weather, which then (usually) peaks somewhere near the middle of the three months, and gradually tapers off towards the end of that period.
I have for a long time thought the year should start on March 1st...
the year should start on March 1st...
The first Roman calendar, made up by Romulus himself, had only ten months and 304 days (and then skipped all of the days in what are now January and February). It began in March.
>I have for along time thought the year should start on March 1st...
Why start the year near the beginning of autumn?
> beginning of autumn
heh.
Why start the year near the beginning of autumn?
Ask your friendly neighborhood rebbe.
Why start the year near the beginning of autumn?
The Church Year begins on the First Sunday of Advent which is four Sundays before Christmas Day. That puts it at the end of November or the beginning of December, which is pretty autumnal in this half.
>>Ask your friendly neighborhood rebbe
Actually, there are four new years in the Jewish calendar
>Actually, there are four new years in the Jewish calendar
What was wrong with the old ones?
> What was wrong with the old ones?
Nothing much. But the new ones were on special.
On special? No - they got them wholesale!
Actually, there are four 'Rosh HaShanot' in the Jewish calendar.
