Winter or Autumn

It ain't winter just yet. It's a mite too warm where I am and it's not raining as much. Winter starts sometime in december (usually that first week) in my book.

 

For me, winter has always started on the 21st of December. I follow the official rules. Even though christmas things are already being displayed everywhere and it's a lot colder than it should be for this time of year, I still think it's autumn.

 

"It just smelled like half of Fall and Winter"

 

Okay, now that that's out of the way...

Thanksgiving is historically depicted as a fall holiday, despite its proximity to cold weather a snow. December-February are the "traditional" winter months, where no one can dispute it's wintertime (at least here where it snows in the US). And most of the time when it snows around Thanksgiving, it usually doesn't stick around. So fall season gets my vote. Marketing just likes to target Christmas early because it's the biggest shopping season of the year. (probably)

 

There are three definitions of 'winter': the seasonal definition, the weather definition, and the marketing definition.

With the first, it is divided up by the solstices and equinoxes. You basically guarantee that winter starts at the winter solstice and ends at the vernal equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter will always go from 21 December to 20 March, give or take a day or two. In the Southern, it's 21 June to 22 September instead, again, give or take a day or two. Those are essentially set permanently; barring an astronomical event that will dislodge the Earth from its current orbit, those figures will not change.

With the second definition, this varies wildly based on where you live, and it is the most relative and unstable of the three definitions. For some areas it can extend as early as November (May if you're below the Equator) or as late as April (October if you're below the equator). For others, it can be as fast as just a few weeks in December (June). I have a friend who lives in the US who has told me, in his area, winter lasts for exactly three weeks in December - with some spillover into November if he's lucky.

With the third definition, it does vary a fair amount, but it is probably the most unreasonable too. Marketing winter is keyed to the time of year and is irrespective of hemispheres; it is usually referred to as 'marketing Christmastime' for that reason, as it revolves almost entirely around the selling and advertisement of Christmas merchandise and paraphernalia. Marketing Christmastime starts in early November, with some places starting it as early as October, before 'marketing Halloween' is over. It is usually guaranteed to end and disappear on 31 December, after which marketing Valentine's Day starts on either 1 or 2 January.

That said, where do I lie? I abhor being relative and with subjective thoughts, so I stick with the seasonal definition of winter. It's the most reliable figure, as it does not fluctuate, and it doesn't care very much about weather patterns (which are rarely static) or marketing cycles (which just outright annoy me). I can't say the other two definitions are outright wrong, but they aren't quite as solid as remaining with Earth's revolutions as my standard.

 

Its cold, its snowing, it feels like winter, thus I say it is winter. And thus it is winter. Because I said so.

 

It's not winter where I am. I think your climate and local weather patterns help decide, and with my local climate, winter comes with the first snow (even if it doesn't stick), or the trees being completely barren. Neither of those things have happened yet, so as far as me and my region are concerned, it's still fall here.

... ten days after the question was posed.

 

Where I live, the different between winter and summer is rain and only rain. That said, there's just as much rain in autumn. So for me, winter begins when December begins. There's really no other way to separate the two otherwise. xD