Summer
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other senses of this word, see summer (disambiguation).
Summer is a season, defined by convention in meteorology as the whole months of June, July, and August, in the Northern hemisphere, and the whole months of December, January, and February, in the Southern hemisphere. In some Western countries, the first day of summer (in the Northern hemisphere) falls either on, or around, June 21 or on June 1 (the former is the astronomical start; the latter, the meteorological). Summer is commonly viewed as the season with the longest (and warmest) days of the year, in which the daylight predominates, through varying degrees. In the northern latitudes, twilight is known to last at least an hour, sometimes leading to the famous white nights found in St. Petersburg and Scandinavia.
It is also called the season of the midnight sun near the North Pole; in Iceland for instance.
For many people in the West, the seasons are considered to start at the equinoxes and solstices in an "astronomical" sense. However, due to the phenomenon of seasonal lag, the "meteorological" start of the season precedes, by about three weeks, the start of the "astronomical" season. This time differential keeps the "meteorologial" definition more symmetrically centered around the warmest part of the year than the "astronomical one" is. Today, the "meteorological" definition is most common, but in the past the "astronomical" definition was more frequent, and some people today still prefer it. Elsewhere, however, the solstices and the equinoxes are taken to mark the mid-points, not the beginning, of the seasons. In Chinese astronomy, for example, summer starts on or around May 6, with the jiéqì (solar term) known as 立夏 (lì xià), i.e. "establishment of summer".
In most countries children are out of school during this time of year, although dates vary. Some begin in June, although in the UK, from the ages of 5-16, school ends in the middle of July.
Summer is also the season in which many fruits, vegetables, and other plants are in full growth.
See also
External links
- "Summer of animals and plants in Finland" by Northern Nature Projectast:Branu
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