RE: Loxley19 Dec 2021 06:30
2 schools of thought. I prefer the 1st.
1 A season is a period of the year that is distinguished by special climate conditions. The four seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter—follow one another regularly. Each has its own light, temperature, and weather patterns that repeat yearly.
In the Northern Hemisphere, winter generally begins on December 21 or 22. This is the winter solstice, the day of the year with the shortest period of daylight. Summer begins on June 20 or 21, the summer solstice, which has the most daylight of any day in the year. Spring and fall, or autumn, begin on equinoxes, days that have equal amounts of daylight and darkness. The vernal, or spring, equinox falls on March 20 or 21, and the autumnal equinox is on September 22 or 23.
2 https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/seasons/summer/when-does-summer-start has a different approach.
Meteorological summer
However, meteorologists are also interested in the beginning of the meteorological summer. Meteorological summer will always begin on 1 June; ending on 31 August.
The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.
The seasons are defined as spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).