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The Scientific Basis for Defining Seasons

Contrary to common belief, modern meteorology recognized that the beginning of any season is the day on which the sun passes over particular latitude rather than how cold or warm the following will be.

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Ancient and Modern Meteorology

Meteorological phenomena such as storms, lightning, and thunder are often considered dangerous and frightening for many people. The ability to predict their occurrence in the past was valued in many cultures. In fact, there is a large body of literature that spans the ancient period dedicated to the prediction and explanation of meteorological and astronomical events including animal behavior.  The division of the year into seasons enables the ancient culture to select the proper time plowing, sowing, reaping, and harvesting, making voyages with ships, prepare and protect themselves for against the natural severity of the seasons.


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However, ancient meteorology was largely based on past experience or preservation of the events of past weather and their sequence, speculations on the relation between events and proximate causes, philosophy, appeal to the deities, and belief in personal weather-control and magic.  The practice was only changed in the mid 19th century when a collection of facts has been operated by electric–telegraph and now radiotelegraphy.  Although recording observation and discussing them from a philosophical point of view still remains to this day, meteorologist today have a multitude of facts and records to base their forecast and in creating a weather map.

Weather and Seasons

Weather maps are important tools for developing and explaining weather forecasts. They vary in scope as there are national, continental, and global weather maps. Surface weather maps commonly contain identified fronts; high and low-pressure areas and temperatures, wind strength and air pressure and often used to provide information on the present weather condition.  Forecast weather maps, as the name suggests, are computer generated maps to predict changes in the weather.  Meteorologist also developed short-term (18-36 hours) and long-term (5 days) maps that are updated daily.

However, since weather condition is rapidly changing, the weather forecast may not always be accurate and mere honest guesses of the weather condition for a certain period of time. The above surface map illustrates four different fronts – cold, warm, stationary, and occluded.  Note that these fronts separate different air masses and associated with lower pressure. A meteorologist using this map will likely forecast that weather along the stationary front (points A and B) will be clear to partly cloudy. The weather condition in the cold front (points B to C) will be cold, rainy in green-shaded areas, and snowy in the white shaded areas.

Contrary to common belief, modern meteorology recognized that the beginning of any season is the day on which the sun passes over particular latitude rather than how cold or warm the following will be.  For instance, the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere is June 21 or when the sun is at its highest position in the noonday sky or 23 ½ degrees north (N) latitude. Each day past June 21, the noon sun is slightly lower in the sky as 12 hours or more of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere begins to shorten.

By September 22, the sun is directly above the equator and the astronomical beginning of fall officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere.  Three months after the autumnal equinox, the sun on December 21, is further away from the tilted Northern Hemisphere where days are shorter and nights are longer.  On this day, the sun shines directly above latitude 23 ½ degrees S (Tropic of Capricorn) or the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The first day of spring occurs around March 20 or when the sun crosses the equator and moving northward.

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J.K. Garcia: <strong>Name:</strong> J.K. Garcia <strong>Education:</strong> University of California San Diego (UCSD) <strong>Current occupation:</strong> Senior editor for PrivateWriting.com, academic writer, and education blogger with more than 170 published articles. <strong>Recent works:</strong> “Full List of the Most Trending Argumentative Essay Topics”, “Descriptive Essay: A Closer Look at Descriptive Essay Writing”, “Definition Essay: A Powerful Guide to Writing an Excellent Paper”, “12 Steps to Writing a Research Proposal”, “The Contribution of Academic Institution in Children’s Well-Being”, “Home Schooling is an Ideal Way to Obtain Quality Education”, “Download Sites Violate Copyright Rules”, “Bullets in Victim’s Head: Hate Crime or Parking Space”, “Scholarly Articles Broaden the Student’s Outlook”, “Commemorating Pi on 3/14/15”, “Honesty is Sometimes Not the Best Policy”, “What Education Do You Need to Become a Master Chef?” Hobbies: Scuba diving, sphynx cats, European football, fine arts. <strong>About me:</strong> I work full-time as a senior content editor for an education platform Private Writing. As a freelancer, I contribute to blogs and online magazines in the fields I’m interested in, which include sports, arts, education, and animals, to name a few. My writing skills are diverse and engaging, giving me an opportunity to write in different styles and genres. I have put on several roles as a writer, from a guest blogger to an editor in chief for an academic writing company. Today it feels like the role of a senior editor suits me the best giving me an opportunity to work and supervise many talented writers enabling them to grow as professionals. My biggest accomplishments as a writer are to always go through with my assignments until the end and giving out 110% of what I’ve got until the final result lives up to the expectations. This one time a colleague of mine, a novice writer with a huge potential in academic writing, approached me for a piece of advice on how to be a better author. This gave me a huge boost of inspiration to be a better mentor for my fellow writers and be a more accomplished author when it comes to my own writing. I’m a native English speaker, also well-versed in Spanish and French, which are both my second languages thanks to my father’s ancestors being half Mexican and French. I read a lot of books and blogs to keep my skills on point. I’m a strong believer in the theory that the English language is an ever-evolving organism that changes every minute. So to keep up with the changes it’s necessary to read a lot in order to be up to speed.