Aussies Are Complaining That It's Still Freezing Despite It Being Spring And They're Not Wrong — Here's Why

For anyone who's ever wondered why winter seems to outstay her welcome every damn year.

As you may or may not already know, Australia is one of the few countries in the world that starts each season at the beginning of a month — marking December 1 as the start of summer, March 1 for autumn, June 1 for winter and September 1 for spring.

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It's clean, it's uncomplicated...it's perhaps a bit flawed?

But the rigidity of our seasonal calendar does mean that it can feel strange when the weather outdoors doesn't suit the date — as evidenced when one Melbourne-based Reddit user remarked in spring:

The f*ck did this come from? Can winter be over? There is ice on the birdbath. from melbourne

In the Reddit thread, Aussies debated the value of following the meteorological calendar for our seasons — as opposed to the equinoxes and solstices, which is what many other countries follow.

I just found out that seasons don’t change on the same day around the world. Like Australia is in Spring on the 1 September but in the UK they don’t get Autumn until the 22 September??? What???

— Lauren Ingram (@laureningram) August 27, 2020

Twitter: @laureningram

"Spring equinox is when days become longer than nights. Summer solstice is when days begin to get shorter. Autumn equinox is when days become shorter than nights and winter solstice is when days begin to get longer."

—u/Random_Sime

"A lot of countries don't divide seasons by calendar months like we do, they divide them by the equinoxes and solstices. Which makes a lot of sense!"

—u/bluestonelaneway

"The real seasons don't line up with the months and so Australia's calendar is fairly arbitrary for convenience."

—u/markjustmarkjust

Other commenters pointed to the far more varied seasonal calendars that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples follow — who have developed an intricate understanding of the relationship between country and climate over tens of thousands of years.

"I grew up in the bush and the Indigenous people lived by and knew the local seasons."

—u/Flyingwheelbarrow

"The Bureau of Meteorology actually have specific seasons based on traditional First Nations knowledge from different regions of Australia."

—u/SydneyRFC

This led me into a deep dive of this Indigenous Weather Knowledge calendar — which tracks the patterns and seasonal characteristics of 17 different First Nations Countries.

For instance, on D'harawal Country — which extends from the southern shores of Sydney Harbour, to the northern shores of the Shoalhaven River in NSW — the traditional landowners observe six different seasons.

Pexels, Getty Images

Right now, we're in the time of Ngoonungi, which takes place from September to October and the season is characterised as cool, but getting warmer — as well as a time of gathering for flying foxes.

The months of November and December fall into the time of Parra'dowee, characterised as warm and wet — which makes total sense to any Sydneysider who has endured a lifetime of sodden, humid Christmas days. 

By comparison, the Walabunnba calendar — which covers a region 300km from Alice Springs in the central desert of Australia — follows just two seasons.

Robin Smith / Getty Images, Flickr: trevor_dobson_inefekt69

Watangka, which is the hot season, runs from October to March and is characterised by high temperatures, bush fires and rain. While the Yurluurrp season takes place from April to September and is defined by cool, dry days and nights.

In conclusion, Australia's sweeping, generalised seasonal calendar is totally wrong — and if you want a more accurate representation of the weather patterns in your area, you can find the closest First Nations calendar for your location here.

And let me know if you find it to be a more accurate summary of your hometown's seasonal patterns!