The tropical zone lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, roughly 23.5° north and south. These places usually have two main seasons, wet and dry, rather than the typical four.
The temperate zones sit between the tropics and the polar circles, and this is where the four seasons are most clearly defined: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Beyond the Arctic Circle in the north and the Antarctic Circle in the south are the polar regions. Here you get polar day and polar night, so parts of the year when the sun never sets, and others when it never rises.
Just to clarify, this is specifically referring to axial (astronomical) seasons. Climatically speaking, many regions of the world are instead described in terms of two main seasons based on rainfall and temperature patterns.
Posted by Andro_lover2005
40 Comments
Central/North Florida have 5 seasons:
Spring, summer, hell, more summer, and fall 🙂
According to this one could easily tell the difference between autumn and winter in the middle of the Egyptian Sahara
r/MapsWithoutSweden
oh my gawd they stole the black sea
I love it when people say that they need to live in a place that has seasons. That’s easy. Everywhere on Earth has seasons.
Typical four? You sure what typical means?
There are no seasons in the tropics; periods of rain are not the same as a season.
Yeah nah.
For most of Australia there isn’t a clearly delineated autumn and spring. You have a warm time of the year and a cooler time of the year. Native vegetation is evergreen.
This doesn’t really take culture and unique geography into account. Bangladesh has 6 seasons. You can think of there being two axes: wet vs dry (related to the monsoon, arguably the thing around which all weather in South Asia revolves around) and hot vs cold. Now that alone might not be enough–you could argue that the difference between Fall and Late Fall/Dry Season in Bangladesh is not that pronounced–but when you take into account harvests and festivals, it’s not hard to envision 6 distinct seasons. In contrast, the parts of the Sahara Desert that lie along the same latitude probably do not have much seasonal variation, although I will admit I am not knowledgeable on seasons in North Africa.
I hate tropical weather
The Canadian prairies have four seasons, which is nice, but the duration of each one is the problem: Winter from October to April, Spring from May to June, Fall from August to September, and some random summer days in July (it can actually get really hot some times).
I mean, numbering seasons is silly. Historically, Germanic peoples of Europe had 2 seasons – summer and winter, unlike the Romans who had the four we use. 2 seasons seems very popular, it’s also the system ysed by indigenous people south of the tropics in Brazil, like the Guarani and Charrua. The Egyptians had 3 (basically, flooding, growing, harvest). The Chinese divided the year into 24 terms.
My region in Central Europe also is joked about having only two seasons – 3 months of Winter and 9 months of cold.
The deserts in the southwest having four seasons. Lol. Yeah they got 4 seasons a spring that hovers around summer temperatures an autumn that hovers around summer temperatures a winter that doesn’t get much if any snow but is cold but nothing like the cold temperatures in the north eastern United States
As someone living in the orange zone, we don’t have ‘wet and dry.’ We have ‘Hot’ and ‘Hot but now the floor is a river.’
OP it may be worth adding a disclaimer that this is strictly related to *axial seasons*. Climatically speaking the majority of the world only has two seasons.
Basically white people don’t like the tropics.
This map is nonsense. Florida has hot and less hot.
Mate, just because Europeans showed up places and declared four seasons doesn’t make it that way. You’re talking about oversimplification in your replies, while you have posted a global oversimplification.
Unless of course you’re just discussing astronomical seasons and ignoring all weather and ecological reasoning.
Where i am, we joke there are 12 seasons
Winter
Fool’s spring
Second winter
Spring of deception
Third winter
The pollening
Actual spring
Summer
Hell’s front porch
False fall
Second summer
Actual fall
We are currently in Actual Spring, but Summer decided to show up early…twice!
This is funny because in India we have 6 seasons because of the monsoon!!!!
aren’t lines supposed to be curved? Because it is a projection?
This is not true based on broader conceptions of seasons. Much of the tropics has 3-4 seasons based on length of multiple dry and wet seasons
It’s more complicated than this. Here is a more nuanced map: https://koppen.earth/
Link is to an interactive map. If you’re on mobile, you’ll want to view as a desktop site. To see a description of the climates, click the info button on the legend.
edit: this map is the same thing as the other one, just easier to use: https://koppenmap.com/
Ireland definitely does not have 4 seasons. It’s the same shit all year round, with a 10 C temperature difference.
Its interesting how much the Midwest in the US gets all four distinct ones. I always just thought of it as hot then cold, but spring and fall are pretty intense here.
Arizona hot and super hot
This is dumb.
Louisiana doesn’t get all 4 😂
I’d disagree, Autumn is Northern Hemisphere propaganda, we have green leaves all year round and our trees don’t grow during spring then stop in autumn but grow year round.
What happens when you’re sitting on the line
As someone who lives in the mid-latitudes… Southeast Texas does not have four distinct seasons, lol. We have mild soup and boiling soup. Then a random freeze or two in January or February.
I’m so happy I don’t live in that tropical zone
I travelled to north Australia once IN WINTER and that humid thick air had me feeling like I was suffocating. Genuinely such an uncomfortable experience. (I know you get used to it quick but still)
Canada has two seasons: winter and construction.
If you plant a deciduous tree native to the temperate areas like a white oak in the tropics, does it still go through its cycle of leaf growth and dormancy?
hawaii resident here 🤙
* winter is when I don’t need the AC during the day or at night
* summer is when I need the AC during the day and at night
* spring and fall are when I need the AC on during the day, but not at night
AI slop?
In New York it was like 45 one day, and the next day it was 95. We are, quite literally, cooked.
I know we got 4 seasons officially, but there’s more. There is such a thing as the indian summer.
Nights and days are getting cold in autumn, then all of a sudden we get 2-3 weeks of beautiful weather.
Historically, this was the signal to pack and leave for the winter camp grounds.
tropics are just vibing with a permanent tan and rain dance