Happy Official First Day of Fall in the USA!
While the traditional start of fall in the northern hemisphere began with the first harvest at Lughnasadh and will reach its peak in mid-fall at the September astronomical equinox, the officials at the National Weather Service define meteorological fall as beginning on September 1. Since this is the only government agency which sets official dates for seasons, today is the official first day of fall.
ncei.noaa.gov/news/meteorologi…
[Edited to add this wonderful chart showing the differences between traditional Celtic seasons, astronomical seasons, and meteorological seasons.]
Meteorological Versus Astronomical Seasons
Meteorologists and climatologists define seasons differently from “regular” or astronomical spring, summer, fall, and winter.National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
This entry was edited (3 months ago)
Jenny Fx
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • • •Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Jenny Fx • • •@urbanfoxe This is why I said, “In the USA.” The only officials in the USA who set seasons are the National Weather Service. So those are the only dates that can properly be called “official”.
And as for “traditional,” do you mean you don’t teach the traditional Celtic seasons?
Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • • •@urbanfoxe Sorry, just saw in your profile that despite the .ie instance you are currently teaching in NYC. Yes, I am aware that most schools in the USA teach the astronomical seasons, without calling them this.
I suspect your students would like the chart that someone just posted.
Jenny Fx
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • • •Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Jenny Fx • • •Éibhear 🔭
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • •This is one of my favourite charts. Before I came across it, I was a proponent of the astronomical seasons, but now I'm fully in the celtic seasons camp.
I always smirk at the differences in Ireland. North of the border (formerly protestant-driven education) the seasons that are taught are the meteorological; south of the border (formerly roman catholic-driven education) they're the astronomical seasons.
Brian Hawthorne likes this.
Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Éibhear 🔭 • • •@eibhear The astronomical seasons make sense for nobody but astronomers. I have been on a quest for decades to remind people that in Northern Europe and North America, the only “official” seasons are the meteorological ones, and the “traditional” ones are the Celtic (or the seasons of whichever of the First Nations peoples one might be born into).
After decades of reminding people of this incessantly on social media, I have seen even meteorologists now talk about meteorological and astronomical seasons; and no longer talk about “official” or “traditional.”
Traditionally:
MID-summer’s day is the day of the summer solstice
MID-winter’s day is the day of the winter solstice.
Éibhear 🔭
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • •Including amateur astronomers.
Wanna hear a joke? What's got two thumbs and is an amateur astronomer? ....
like this
Brian Hawthorne and Kevin Browder like this.
Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Éibhear 🔭 • • •Éibhear 🔭
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • •Brian Hawthorne
in reply to Éibhear 🔭 • • •Éibhear 🔭
in reply to Brian Hawthorne • •