Stupid ask about Moonfire Faire

[Breakbeat]

I'm a bit taken aback by the fact that no one is mentioning the solstice or equinox, which is what determines the seasons. It's consistent in the northern hemisphere, and the southern hemisphere is the exact opposite. The seasons are defined by the Earth's angle towards the sun, and don't vary from region to region because one is sunnier than the other. Some places have a mild, temperate summer. Some places have a raging, heat-wave filled summer. It doesn't mean that it's "less summer" in one place versus the other.

For 2021: This year, summer will end in the northern hemisphere on September 22. EVERYWHERE in the northern hemisphere. Hawaii, Norway, Seattle, Moscow. Everywhere. This is because the Autumnal Equinox falls on that day. This is when the sun is directly above the equator, and night and day on the equator are of equal length.

On September 22 in the southern hemisphere, they'll experience the Vernal Equinox, which will move them from winter into spring. Yes, everywhere in the southern hemisphere. Melbourne, Buenos Aires, and Johannesberg.

All of the info about how hot it is where one lives or such-and-such weather patterns in June are of no bearing at all; the season you experience is solely down to whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere, and what the date is on the calendar.

[Iscah]

On September 22 in the southern hemisphere, they'll experience the Vernal Equinox, which will move them from winter into spring. Yes, everywhere in the southern hemisphere. Melbourne, Buenos Aires, and Johannesberg.

I can't speak for other places, but Melbourne (and all of Australia as far as I'm aware) marks seasons by the month, not by the solstices and equinoxes. As listed above you in post #22, but in reverse: summer is from the start of December to the end of February; Winter is from the start of June to the end of August.

In any case, August falls entirely within winter/summer whether you mark its end as September 1 or September 22.

[Breakbeat]

I'm going to need to disagree on principle.

Vernal and autumnal equinoxes are global. Colloquially, traditionally, locally, customarily people might "mark the seasons" as such-and-such months, but the science is consistent globally. I do see where AU defines the "end of winter" as August 31, but that's a cultural thing, akin to Daylight Savings Time. Nowhere on Earth does any season actually change on August 31, 2021.

Search for "southern hemisphere vernal equinox" and you will see it falls on September 22.

Melbourne (and all of Australia as far as I'm aware) marks seasons by the month, not by the solstices and equinoxes.

What people choose to do culturally is down to their culture, and that's fine. Here in America we do Daylight Savings Time, which is ridiculous ... and doesn't actually change what time it is at all. Everyone agrees that we just skipped an hour, so it works. Everyone in AU agrees that winter is done on August 31, so it works.

In neither situation does it actually make it so, however. Those are tricks we tell ourselves to have more interesting days, LOL.

I digress. The vernal equinox is Sept. 22 in the southern hemisphere, that's a fact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox

[MistakeNot]

I'm a bit taken aback by the fact that no one is mentioning the solstice or equinox, which is what determines the seasons.

Only in some weird places - like the US. Where I live nobody uses the solstices/equinoxes to determine seasons - and they usually don't match the weather anyhow.
We have basically two systems.
The most common one is calender based, with each season consisting of three months (Winter = December, January, February; Spring = March, April, May; Summer = June, July, August; Autumn = September; October; November)
The other is based on average daily temperatures. When using that method different parts of the country can enter a season at different times, and starting dates for each season will vary from year to year.