I’d expect the shortest day of the year to also be the coldest, with the coldest season of the year spreading out equally on both sides of it.
I’d expect the shortest day of the year to also be the coldest, with the coldest season of the year spreading out equally on both sides of it.
It’s a convention. And not one that everyone follows. In Australia we use meteorological seasons, which start on the first of the month. So today is precisely one third of the way through summer.
Because of what you said, I do think that the way we do it is better. It puts the solstice (the day literally called “midsummer”) closer to the middle of the season, and also makes more sense because it puts seasons aligned with the human calendar.
Ultimately, the 4 seasons are a human invention and we can choose where we put them.
Edit: meteorological seasons start on the first of the month. The name for when you start on the solstice/equinox is astronomical seasons.
Yup. “The map is not the territory” as Alfred Korzybski put it.