When does the summer begin in the Southern Hemisphere?

Midget40

In Australia it's on the 1st of December http://www.apex.net.au/~mhumphry/aust.html Apr 22 09, 3:40 PM

mikew41

The summer begins in the Southern Hemisphere on the summer solstice which falls on December 25th. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer#Period Apr 22 09, 3:41 PM

scottietwenty3

December 21 is one of two solstices. In 2008 at precisely 7:04 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, December 21 (12:05 UTC) winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere and summer begins in the Southern Hemisphere. http://geography.about.com/cs/calendarsseason/a/winter.htm Apr 22 09, 5:19 PM

looney_tunes

Definitions as to the start of each season depend on who is doing the defining. "The seasons are popularly considered to start on different dates in different cultures. In some Western countries, especially the USA, they are believed to start at the equinoxes and solstices, based on a misunderstanding of astronomical reckoning. Thus, in the Southern Hemisphere, based on this premise summer begins on the day of the December solstice and ends on the March equinox. ... From a purely astronomical viewpoint, the equinoxes and solstices would be the middle of the respective seasons, but a variable seasonal lag means that the meteorological start of the season, which is based on average temperature patterns, occurs several weeks later than the start of the astronomical season.[1] According to meteorologists, summer extends for the whole months of December, January and February in the southern hemisphere, and the whole months of June, July and August in the northern hemisphere. This meteorological definition of summer also aligns with the commonly viewed notion of summer as the season with the longest (and warmest) days of the year, in which daylight predominates. From the astronomical perspective, days continue to lengthen from equinox to solstice and summer days begin to shorten after the solstice, so meteorological summer encompasses the build-up to the longest day and a diminishing thereafter, with summer having many more hours of daylight than spring. ... In southern and southeast Asia, where the monsoon occurs, summer is more generally defined as lasting from March to May/early June, their warmest time of the year, ending with the onset of the monsoon rains." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer Apr 23 09, 12:57 AM