why is ireland one month out on the seasons?

Franz Von Peppercorn

Mullaghteelin wrote: »

You will find some old farts on UK weather boards insist that Spring starts on March 21st, and many Americans will agree with them.
They must think the Irish are mad eccentric altogether, with our Spring half over before theirs begins.

That’s pretty strange isn’t it? Sure weather lags the sun but to say that the seasons start on the solstice or equinox makes no sense. Living in America I remember watching the typical end of news happy story they have, it was a local channel. Anyway it was all about the mid-summer festival the next day. She asked the weather man what the weather was like the next day and he smiled and said that mid summer should be warm and dry. (Well it was California). After that unscripted segue he went into his scripted spiel which started. “Tomorrow is the first day of summer and it will be a warm and dry one”.

Make up your mind yanks.

Also a good answer to germans.

“Why does Irish summer begin in May?”
“Before I Answer that when do you celebrate mid summer?”

In fact mid summer is big in Europe and it is mid the Irish summer not their own. They would be mid July.

Danno

Our seasons lag owing to the warmth of the seas around our shores. The transition from Autumn to Winter is slow because of the amount of time it takes for the seas to lose the heat built up over the summer. The same can be said for Spring going into Summer when the cooler seas cause a chill effect on the atmosphere. I personally hate the latter as the daylight is long but it's cool, nothing worse than the sun shining brightly till 9pm in May and the air is a cool 8c or 9c - there is a certain nastiness about the first two to three weeks of May in that regard.

Using my many years now keeping an eye on things weather related, I consider it Winter from November 22nd until 16th March. Spring starts on St. Patrick's day and runs until May 16th. Summer runs from May 17th until September 21st with Autumn from September 22nd until November 21st. There is nothing scientific about this, but rather a "feeling" on when the weather has *turned a corner*

Well, once we hit February its obvious that growth starts again, and nature becomes more active, birds mating etc.

If you base Spring on the cycle of Nature and its re-awakening, rather climate statistics, then the Irish version is the one to choose.

PCX

Met Éireann define the seasons in Ireland as

Spring - March, April, May
Summer - June, July, August
Autumn - September, October, November
Winter - December, January, February

The traditional way of having spring start on St. Bridget's day (1st Feb) is not based on the climate but on the old traditional celtic religious calendar which was based on the solstices and equinoxes.

Like Met Éireann I personally prefer to use the climate to define seasons in line with most of the rest of the world.

Franz Von Peppercorn

PCX wrote: »

Met Éireann define the seasons in Ireland as

Spring - March, April, May
Summer - June, July, August
Autumn - September, October, November
Winter - December, January, February

The traditional way of having spring start on St. Bridget's day (1st Feb) is not based on the climate but on the old traditional celtic religious calendar which was based on the solstices and equinoxes.

Like Met Éireann I personally prefer to use the climate to define seasons in line with most of the rest of the world.

Except they don’t. Not when they celebrate mid summer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer

This indicates that the Irish tradition was common in Europe, once.

Mobhi1

Chicken Run wrote: »

You can tell when it's summer in Ireland - the rain gets warmer !!

Does it?

piuswal

gbee wrote: »

A point about the Daffodils. Daffs like cold weather and are generally portrayed as breaking through snow, and are heralded as the sign that Winter is ending and Spring can't be far away.

Horticulturists on the boards may confirm that 'warm weather' dafs don't shine as brightly and wither and die sooner giving a short display, as opposed to the one that break ice and snow to bloom.

Daffs should start to bloom still in Winter and the Spring should arrive as they fade ~ but they will bloom regardless, the weather will dictate how long and how bright.

Daffodils began blooming around Glasnevin in the past few days

kindredspirit

kindredspirit wrote: »

I regard the seasons this way,

November, December, January and February as winter,

March and April as Spring.

May, June, July, August as Summer.

September and October as Autumn.

The idea that all the seasons should each be equal and three months long seems rather childish. Spring and Autumn are just transitions of two months each between the two main seasons.

It's about amount of day time, with the solstices being height of summer/winter and equivalents equinoxes in their seasons.

AFAIR

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Well, once we hit February its obvious that growth starts again, and nature becomes more active, birds mating etc.

If you base Spring on the cycle of Nature and its re-awakening, rather climate statistics, then the Irish version is the one to choose.

Agreed as it's based on daylight

Míshásta

The origins of the Irish seasons may well go back to pagan times, but we've had 15 centuries of Christianity, of one brand or the other, in between.

Farmers would start ploughing and preparing the ground for sowing in February, weather permitting. Grass growth would also begin.
There were reasons for the Irish system other than pre-history reasons.

I look on the Irish system nowadays as more a cultural tradition than a strict meteorological definition. Poetry and folklore are full of references to our traditional seasons.

Míshásta

Míshásta wrote: »

The origins of the Irish seasons may well go back to pagan times, but we've had 15 centuries of Christianity, of one brand or the other, in between.

Farmers would start ploughing and preparing the ground for sowing in February, weather permitting. Grass growth would also begin.
There were reasons for the Irish system other than pre-history reasons.

I look on the Irish system nowadays as more a cultural tradition than a strict meteorological definition. Poetry and folklore are full of references to our traditional seasons.

It's not based on meterological is astronomical. Makes far more sense to base it around a set pattern of day length than weather which varies from year to year (even if it holds to overall pattern)

Capt'n Midnight

It could be argued that we have 5 seasons.

The fifth being the short winter like we are going through now.

September can be better than summer and March worse than winter.

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It could be argued that we have 5 seasons.

The fifth being the short winter like we are going through now.

September can be better than summer and March worse than winter.

Which is why basing our seasons on changing patterns makes no sense. The old lads had it right, lock it down to a set period based on the shortest day of the year

Kenz

Simply tell her that "We" are right, and the rest of the world is wrong... She'll understand