What are the seasons?

Abstract

The concept of dividing the year into four seasons is re-examined to appraise critically the relative merit of two commonly used definitions of the seasons: the astronomical definition; and the meteorological breakdown into four three-month periods. The astronomical definition of seasons is appropriate only over the oceanic regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Over the continental regions of the Northern Hemisphere, the 'meteorological' seasons in which winter is December, January, and February, etc, agree reasonably well with observed events and are recommended for general usage.-from Author