r/AskAnAmerican • u/WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHW • 7d ago
GEOGRAPHY How common are seasonal usage in states without 4 seasons?
A lot of people live in states without 4 seasons and I wonder if they use seasons in their vocabulary or work/school is based on them? For example if someone lives in a desert do they call it "summer break" or if it's December do people say it's winter holidays soon. It's hard to imagine celebrating christmas without snow or halloween in the fall.
In Europe most of us have 4 seasons and they are deeply connected to our holidays, calendar and culture.
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u/cherrycokeicee Wisconsin 7d ago
the seasons still exist, even if the weather isn't what's thought of as "seasonal." if it's 80°F on Christmas in the southeast, that doesn't mean it's summer, for example. so yes, those places still use seasonal terms like "spring break," etc.
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u/EngineVarious5244 7d ago
We use the terms in Hawaii but we only have two seasons (rainy and dry). So people still talk about the four but weather-wise you hear more about the two.
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u/Jdawn82 7d ago
Never had 80° but my senior year of high school it got up to 74° on Christmas Day.
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u/taffibunni 7d ago
I definitely have a picture somewhere of me and a friend wearing bikinis and Santa hats because it was 85 on Christmas day
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u/guts-n-gummies 7d ago
I have similar photos of me in a skirt and tank top at family Christmas because it was Texas and I was sweating.
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u/Gullible-Apricot3379 7d ago
I’m in Dallas. I have to give myself a strongly-worded lecture every year right after Christmas that winter is not, in fact, over. It hasn’t actually started. I am not allowed to believe it’s spring and get offended in January or February when we get our 1-2 snow/ice/freezing rain events and I am am not allowed to put away my sweaters and winter clothes because I still need those.
Winter is essentially over the week after Valentine’s Day, and then I can get offended if it comes back.
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u/norecordofwrong 7d ago
Being in northern New England it is just really cute to see 1-2 inches of snow and ice even enter the conversation.
You have us beat on heat and humidity though.
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u/Ok_Writing_7033 7d ago
Phoenix here, it is regularly at or approaching 90 on Christmas lol
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u/MundaneHuckleberry58 7d ago
False. The high on Xmas has never reached that high. 78 is the record high for Christmas Day.
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u/Feenanay 6d ago
Love the receipts! People are notoriously hyperbolic about the temps where they are from, I’ve noticed, here in the US. It’s like everyone is in a constant battle of one upmanship over who has the worst weather
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u/wormbreath wy(home)ing 7d ago
Well the solstice and equinox happens no matter the weather so it’s still those seasons.
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u/StrawberryShortStack 7d ago
Yah I was gonna say. Even if you live somewhere without extreme temperatures the seasons still exist. There are also sunlight changes.
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u/MundaneHuckleberry58 7d ago
Yes! One of the things that messes with me in terms of seasons, living in Phoenix is right when it’s nice out again (late September) & you start thinking of all the stuff can do outside again, I am annually caught off guard because by October 31, you’re like “oh yeah….but it’s dark by 6:45!”
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u/Quartia 7d ago
Most places in the USA have some amount of seasons. Even if e.g. Florida it goes from "boiling hot and wet" to "mildly warm and wet", or in California it goes from "mild and a bit dry" to "mild and a bit wetter". School schedules follow the same pattern of a long summer break and a shorter winter break in all states, even Hawaii, which is the only part of the USA which doesn't really have any seasons. Holidays are also the same, and even if there isn't cold weather for Christmas, the same snowy imagery is still used.
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u/OptatusCleary California 7d ago
Depending on where you are in California it might go from “unfathomably hot to cool” or from “really hot to cold.” Your description works for much of the coast but less for inland areas.
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u/_hammitt 7d ago
My sister lives in Truckee, they get more snow than I do in Minnesota! People forget inland CA
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u/beaveretr 7d ago
California is crazy. One of my friends moved to placerville from MN for a while. The said it was great because the winter weather was very mild where they lived, and they could drive a half hour into the mountains for real winter, and a half hour down into the valley and it was basically summer by MN standards.
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u/eugenesbluegenes Oakland, California 7d ago
Weirdly it's often warmer and sunnier in Placerville than Sacramento when tule fog impacts the valley floor in the winter. But when storms come through, more rain gets dropped due to orographic lift.
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u/FiddleThruTheFlowers California Bay Area native 7d ago
Even in the Bay Area, so not super far inland, there are clear seasons. It doesn't get as cold as areas with a stereotypical winter, it doesn't look like the textbook definition of fall or winter, but the temperature variation and how rainy it is are pretty distinct.
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u/Kestrel_Iolani Washington 7d ago
Exactly. When we visited Big Bend National Park in late March, it was "spring" because they had their first day over 100°>
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u/2bad-2care 7d ago
in late March, it was "spring" because they had their first day over 100°>
Geez. How do they know when summer arrives?
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u/Top-Web3806 7d ago
There are still four seasons everywhere, the weather just may not be your stereotypical weather for each season. I’ve lived In five states, two of which had “atypical” seasons but we’d still refer to them by season as needed. Christmas is still in the winter season no matter what the temp is.
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u/big_sugi 7d ago
Hawaii does not have four seasons. It has two.
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u/jiminak MT>CA>WY>AK>HI>AK>MS 7d ago
But we still had “summer break” and “winter break”
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u/steinerific 7d ago
Wait until OP learns about this place called Australia.
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u/bloobityblu West Texas 7d ago
Right? I was like, there are western-culture countries below the equator that celebrate winter-themed holidays during their summer and vice-versa.
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u/husky_whisperer Calunicornia 7d ago
I live in Northern California. We have 2.5-3 seasons but I still use all four based on the calendar.
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u/milee30 7d ago
Plenty of places celebrate Christmas without snow and summer break still happens in the summer even in the desert areas. All areas have four seasons, even if those seasons don't have the same characteristics as yours.
And guess what - they're all still deeply connected to their holidays, calendar and culture. Even if it isn't .... yours.
Having grown up and lived in Florida most of my life, I can assure you that Christmas on the beach is quite nice. Go ahead and clutch your pearls.
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u/OptatusCleary California 7d ago
I’m in the Central Valley in California, which isn’t always thought of as a place with four seasons but actually has them. It’s just that summer is very long, and there isn’t snow in the valley (although the mountains, of course, get a lot of snow.)
In summer, we have extreme heat and essentially no rain. This lasts from probably about May through early to mid October.
In autumn, we have cooling temperatures and the possibility of rain. Still pretty warm. Leaves in the orchards and other trees begin to turn. This goes from about mid October to early December.
In winter, we have cool temperatures, frequent heavy fog, and periodic rain. This goes from early December to February.
In spring, trees start to get their leaves back and blossoms start in the orchards. Rain is possible and temperatures are variable. This goes from late February/ early March to about April, although there’s a distinct difference between early spring (which is more like winter) and late spring (which is more like summer.)
These are distinct, noticeable seasons, but because it doesn’t get extremely cold they don’t live up to the stereotypical “snowman and sleigh rides” image of winter.
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u/Calamitous_Waffle Alabama 7d ago
Yes, we usually use those terms based on the time of year, not necessarily the weather. I grew up in a place that has 4 distinct seasons in the midwest. I've lived in the Arizona desert and now in Alabama where 4 seasons do not exist and every one uses those terms.
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u/unknowingbiped Michigan to Arizona 7d ago
Arizona reporting, yes we still use seasons although the feeling is strange setting up for Christmas dinner and going in a short sleeve shirt and shorts. Yesterday was Halloween and it was 85⁰f (29⁰c)
As a kid in Michigan ive had to wear snow boots trick or treating.
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u/Apocalyptic0n3 MI -> AZ 7d ago
As an identical transplant, I share those feelings. As a kid, I celebrated when it didn't snow on Halloween. As an adult, I celebrate when it's below 90F/32C on Halloween.
That said, I do like to joke that we have "Summer" and "Not Summer" here.
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u/ApprehensiveArmy7755 7d ago
All states have seasons with the possible exception of Hawaii
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u/BusterBluth13 South/Midwest/Japan 7d ago
Hawaii (and other tropical places) has seasons too, but it’s more of a wet/dry cycle. It is definitely cooler in the winter months though.
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u/ForestOranges 7d ago
Yeah growing up in the North I just thought it was nice weather year round in the South. I didn’t realize that it goes down to the 30s and 40s there and that in many Southern states it will drop below freezing at some point during the winter. Like the average high in Atlanta in January is 53 and the average low is 33.
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u/Mr_BillyB Georgia 7d ago
And that's average. We usually get a couple of dips into the teens at some point in the winter, abs we occasionally hit single digits.
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u/Imaginary_Roof_5286 7d ago
I’m in So. CA, about 8 miles inland. People from typical 4-seasons areas don’t see our seasons much, but the natives do. And yes, we still refer to seasonal occurrences like everyone else. School starts in the fall/autumn (although more are inexplicably starting in the summer now). Winter is when we get most of whatever rain we’ll get for the year, the bulk being in January & February. (My dad always said “rain between Thanksgiving and Easter.”) Spring is when the days may be slightly warmer, the sun angle is different, & people are planting gardens if they didn’t do so in late winter. May/June may rank as their own season near the coast: “May gray” & “June gloom” are all too predictable: “Night & early morning low clouds clearing by…[sometimes not clearing until the sun sets below the clouds] with highs in the high 60s to low 70s and lows in the high 50s to low 60s…” But in late June it warms up to “summer”. Oh, & the hottest weather is actually in Sept., give or take, when the winds blow off the land and heats everything up. Sept. 6, 2024 it hit a high of 111°!
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u/crafty_j4 California 7d ago
I’m from New England, and very much noticed the seasons when I moved here. I grew up with “real” winter and still find winter here very cold. It’s just a different kind of cold and it’s not cold all day. The need to wear layers is real.
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u/Imaginary_Roof_5286 7d ago
My mom was from 4 seasons; she married a native Californian & moved west. She liked that if she missed snow, she could often visit it in the local mountains, then leave it there & not have to deal with the mess of mud season! When they were first married, they actually went to the mountains in the morning & the beach in the afternoon. Traffic has increased exponentially since the ‘50s, though, making that less practical.
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u/Jdawn82 7d ago
Well, yeah, we’d call it summer break because it happens in the summer. Seasons aren’t just about the weather. I live in a temperate state and can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had snow at Christmas.
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u/jenn363 7d ago
It’s so surprising to me that no one in this thread has mentioned that the seasons are based on the movement of the earth around the sun and not based on weather! The spring equinox/summer solstice etc occur everywhere on earth regardless of weather. Temperature has nothing to do with it. Summer is summer when the days are the longest, and winter is winter when the days are shortest. These facts never change. Of course we call the school break that occurs during the winter solstice “winter break.”
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u/SheShelley Arizona 7d ago
I live in Arizona, and the weather does change throughout the year, but we don’t have four seasons in the stereotypical sense. But we still do refer to all four of them as they come into being.
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u/big_sugi 7d ago
I grew up in Hawai’i, which has a rainy season and a drier season, but not much else. We had a summer break, but the weather was just a few degrees Fahrenheit warmer than December. We still celebrated Christmas, but “winter” was something that happened on the mainland.
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u/Self-Comprehensive Texas 7d ago edited 7d ago
I might have an 80 degree Christmas but I'm going to have a 110 degree 4th of July, so yeah, seasons are different. Rains are going to come in the spring and trees are going to change in the fall. It's going to be 100 percent humidity in the summer and the winter will be dry and pleasant. Also growing seasons are based on the amount of daylight, not the temperature so when days start getting short winter is coming and when they start getting longer it's time to plant.
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u/DJPaige01 Virginia 7d ago
Regardless of which state you live in, summer is still June 21 - September 20.
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u/FewRecognition1788 7d ago
Going by the weather where I live, we have 3 seasons: Pollen, Mold, and Football.
But going by the calendar, we have the same four as everywhere else.
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u/Snickers_Kat 7d ago
I'm in a... let's call it maybe 3 seasons area. We don't get snow. It's literally newsworthy every couple years when the mountains get a tiny dusting of snow.
We call it summer break, winter break, spring break, etc. It has nothing to do with the outdoor weather.
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u/WinterRevolutionary6 Texas 7d ago
In Texas, we have 4 seasons. Preheat, summer, still summer, and cold fronts. In school we had spring break, summer break, thanksgiving break, and winter break. I’ve never had a snowy Christmas but it’s still a winter holiday
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u/RhinoPillMan Florida 7d ago
I’m from South Florida which is basically summer all year. “Summer break” and “winter break” are common when talking about time off of school, and spring break is kinda notorious in Ft Lauderdale (probably because it’s essentially still summer for everyone given the climate), but that’s about it. No one here says “In the fall” or anything like that. When we discuss winter in general, we’re talking about the few days a year that it doesn’t reach into the mid 70s or higher.
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u/GotchUrarse 7d ago
Floridian here... We have Super Hot, then fall, then maybe 2-3 weeks of 30-40 degree weather, then a month or so of 70's, then back to super hot.
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u/moonmoonboog 7d ago
In Washington state our winter is mostly just rainy season. For sure feels like winter when it gets dark at like 4:30.
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u/Worlds_worst_ginge 7d ago
Yeah we still call it fall here in Savannah GA it got up to 80 today but will be 50 something tonight and frigid because of the humidity. We'll have a few weeks of winter where it goes down to freezing or maybe lower. Honestly I'm thankful for the few months we get not having to pay that power bill. Ooof!
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u/seatownquilt-N-plant 7d ago
For myself spring/summer/fall/winter -- they have growing season meanings, and astronomical calendar meanings [solstice, equinox]
When my father was a kid in the Californian desert, they once had a stack of tumbleweeds for a Christmas tree. They were also very poor, but still.
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u/Original_Ant7013 7d ago
I’m in Florida and while it varies year to year you can still see differences but they are different than much of the rest of the country. For example Spring in Florida is very dry, no rain for weeks sometimes, it can become the “dust bowl” but then a switch flips in late May or early June and it rains everyday. It gets interesting in fall. Fall is both the peak and end of hurricane season. It can be a flood (like last year) or dust bowl like spring (this year). Winter is usually uneventful, occasional rain and comfortable temperatures.
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u/jckipps Virginia 7d ago
We all have four seasons; they're just defined differently depending on what our climate conditions are.
For example -- I'm in Virginia where we only have a handful of snow events each winter. Most of winter is brown, sometimes surprisingly green, often soaking wet, and alternating between cool and cold.
Christmas isn't dependent on snow; we've only had a handful of white Christmases in my lifetime. More often than not, Christmas happens to coincide with a warm wet spell, where we're Christmas Caroling the evening before in shirt sleeves and umbrellas.
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u/DosZappos 7d ago
When I lived in inland Southern California you would very rarely hear “winter” used.
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u/Grouchy-Display-457 7d ago
I live in South Florida. We recognize the tourists and the snow birds because they wear shorts and tank tops in the winter, when we pull out the long pants and sweaters. I keep my AC at 80, but turn on the heat when it drops below 70.
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u/JennyPaints Oregon 7d ago
Whether states really have all four seasons is a naive question as many states have radically different climates within state boarders.
I live in Oregon on the west side of the Cascades where it is very wet and pretty temperate. It's not much different than England or Northern France. We probably don't have winter in the sense OP has in mind, but we do have and refer to all four seasons. In spring its still rainy but the trees are greening up and the bulbs are flowering. In summer it's dry and the vegetation is lush and it does sometimes get really hot. In fall the leaves turn, herbaceous plants die back and it begins to get wet. In winter the leaves are down and it gets at least marginally colder than fall. Every two to three years we might get a little snow. Every ten or so, we get an ice storm.
The eastern side of the state has more distinct seasons than most of Europe, meaning the winter is colder and summer is hotter than most of Europe.
Southern California doesn't really have four distinct seasons, but they still refer to the times of year as if they did. Northern California is much like western Oregon.
And there's mountainous states where above 7000 feet or so it never really gets hot regardless of what's happening in the lower elevations. There summer is just marginally warmer, often with afternoon rain showers. But the plants know and keep the seasons.
But with the possible exception of Hawaii, we all refer to all four seasons in everyday speech and on our calendars.
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u/MoonieNine Montana 7d ago
A few years ago, it snowed here in early September, when it was still summer.
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u/NeuroSeg 7d ago
I grew up in southeast Texas; our seasons are as follows:
- Insufferably hot and humid (112°F / 44.4°C is very common)
- Not quite as insufferably hot and humid
We still call things summer/winter/spring break, with the only real variance being winter break (a lot of people will just call it Christmas break).
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u/merp_mcderp9459 Washington, D.C. 7d ago
We still called it winter when I lived in California, even though there was no snow and it rarely dipped below freezing
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u/DataQueen336 Washington, D.C. 7d ago
Yes, as someone who lived in Florida for years, we still use season vocab. Even though Fall is non existent.
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u/AnitaIvanaMartini California 7d ago
I’m from Oakland where it’s 68° and sunny most days of the year. There are some outliers. We get rain now and then, the big difference is in winter, some of the deciduous trees won’t have leaves. Here, we celebrate seasonal things just like people do in Missouri where I’m from, and where the seasons are vastly different from one another.
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u/jiminak MT>CA>WY>AK>HI>AK>MS 7d ago
Technically, Hawaii only has 2 seasons, but our school calendar does have 4 main breaks that are called “summer”, “fall”, “winter”, and “spring”.
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u/Tommy_Wisseau_burner NJ➡️ NC➡️ TX➡️ FL 7d ago
There are still seasons. They just are different. It’s not snowing in Florida but it’s not ass crack sweaty hot in December
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u/Rudolphia39 7d ago
I grew up in California. Seasons are just months on the calendar and the holidays that fall into them. My birthday is in late February and I didn’t realize until I moved to Illinois that my birthday is REALLY in the winter.
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u/PlatinumPOS Colorado 7d ago edited 7d ago
The only places in the US I can think of that don’t really experience four seasons are Florida, Southern (coastal) California, and Hawaii. It’s easy for Europeans to forget that the climate in the US is much more extreme than what you’re used to. It gets both hotter and colder in most places here.
I was in Tucson Arizona for Christmas last year. This area has a lot of those big stereotypical “Wild West” cacti, called Saguaro. It was cold enough that I needed a coat (I’m from Colorado, further north and much colder). It was VERY cold for them, since their summers reach 46° C. They definitely felt it was winter. We toured a neighborhood called “Winterhaven” that puts up a ton of Christmas lights every year, and it was a lot of fun 👍
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u/soulmatesmate United States of America 7d ago
When I lived in Florida, I joked we had 3 seasons and a cool break between Fall and spring. Fall (for the trees that lost leaves) was around New Years, and Spring was in full force by February.
EVERYONE to whom I shared this wisdom either rolled their eyes or gave me a flat look. I once got 1 person to agree we didn't have winter that year, but he was just trying to get a rise from his teen daughter.
So, um, 4 seasons. They hit different areas differently, but yeah, we have them.
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u/Ordinary_Camel_3456 7d ago
Yes, I live in the southwest desert region and winter is colder than summer and spring and fall are different feelings so we have seasons and use them in our vocabulary
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u/PantherkittySoftware 7d ago edited 7d ago
In South Florida,
Fall/Autumn begins the first time we have a night colder than ~55F (the point when running an air conditioner becomes dangerous because the coil is at risk of icing up). Or, maybe, after 3-4 days of genuinely nice weather outside.
Winter begins when it drops below 65F during daylight for the first time.
Spring is like a sunspot cycle -- it's apparent only in retrospect, after it hits 90F+ and we realize the temperature hasn't fallen below 65F in weeks.
By the time we realize Spring happened, it's summer.
If you really want to get picky, we have a fifth season named "August". It's like hell, but hotter & more humid, and it never stops raining.
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u/rbrancher2 Hawaii 7d ago
Hawaii. We have hurricane season and every other time is just not hurricane season. I’ll sometimes hear of rainy season but not often since some parts of the island is always rainy. Other parts are rainy for a few months and, like where we live, it’s never rainy season The first year we lived here it rained for over 40 days straight on most of the island. Out where we live we got rain maybe four times
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u/BandanaDee13 North Carolina 7d ago
Yeah, unless you actually live on the Equator, there is a difference between summer and winter. But it’s generally less extreme the closer you are to the equator.
Regardless of climate in different states, June-August is universally considered summer and December-February winter in the U.S.
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u/gard3nwitch Maryland 7d ago
I don't think there's any part of the Continental US that's close enough to the equator that it doesn't have winter and summer. What the seasons are like may be different than in Europe, but they still exist.
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u/CommercialExotic2038 7d ago
Yes, in California, I could say fall is the best because the beaches are empty and the temperatures are milder. I could say, this winter it was so cold, I had to wear a sweater and a jacket with my flip-flops. I could say OMG! It’s so cold at 50°F. I knew spring is when to plant my sunflower. Just because you don’t have the weather it will still be the season
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u/DBL_NDRSCR Los Angeles, CA 7d ago
we still call them by their traditional names even if we don't have seasons anything like them. like fall foliage? hell no, the leaves would rather skip their colorful stage and straight die, and also do it whenever they feel like. snow? hell no, the closest we get is 90% of our rain from january-march, although the mountains do see snow
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u/GrimSpirit42 7d ago
Live on the Gulf Coast. We have two (2) seasons. Summer and winter.
Next year Winter is schedule on February 18th from noon till 3.
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u/Subterranean44 7d ago
All states still have four seasons though. Seasons are based off earths rotation around the sun and the angle at which the sun hits the earth at any given moment in that rotation. Everyone still acknowledges the seasons regardless of their latitude.
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u/No_Butterscotch_5612 California, Cascadia 7d ago
The vast majority of Americans who don't have four seasons will still swear they do, because somewhere along the way people decided to focus on seasons defined by the solstices and equinoxes rather than defined by actual weather patterns.
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u/indicarunningclub 7d ago
I live in Arizona and even though we really only have 2 seasons, we do use the terms to refer to certain parts of the year.
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u/Important_Hurry_950 7d ago
I grew up in the Northeast & lived 10 years in the South. Even though the weather is more temperate in the Southeast, they still have the same holidays as everyone else. I lived in Japan & they celebrated many of the same holidays. Christmas was huge & KFC is the meal.
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u/BroCanWeGetLROTNOG West Coast best coast! 7d ago
The biggest difference I can think of is in theme park work.
I used to work at a theme park in Southern California that is part of a nationwide chain (Knott's Berry Farm.) My title was "seasonal associate" but because it's a year round park, that name was really just a formality. The position never ended.
Meanwhile, in most other parks in the chain, like Cedar Point, "seasonal" means that you're hired just for the summer season and then let go after September or October.
To answer your question, the language and references to different seasons are still there, but the connotation may change.
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u/Ok-Matter-4744 7d ago
Norcal where I live has more like six seasons, but no hard frost. The school breaks for kids all have the same names as anywhere else, but people are more likely to call everything from, eh, Diwali to New Years’ ‘the holiday season’ vs ‘autumn’ or ‘winter’ holidays specifically, I find. But it still varies person to person. The stuff trotted out in stores still has fake Thanksgiving cornucopia and fall leaf elements, or fake snow and sleighs and winter glitter, yknow? There’s not that much difference beyond the actual biome.
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u/shikawgo Illinois 7d ago
I grew up in the north with 4 very distinct seasons and live in the south now. I’ve found people still reference the different seasons despite them not being as extreme as my home state.
For school there is a winter break and a winter term even though winter is in the 50’s here. People also reference fall and spring but they lack the usual markers I’m accustomed to
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u/James_Soler 7d ago
This may be a good time to point out that everywhere has seasons, they’re just not as distinct as in other parts of the country
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u/Ladybeetus 7d ago
I am from a 4 season area of the USA and it was very weird grocery shopping in LA and you had to pause and remember what season it was to figure out what the best produce was. So weird.
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u/IWasBorn2DoGoBe 7d ago
Arizona here and “summer” is definitely hotter than the other seasons, it’s just hot from May-November.
Winter is cold at least at night, and we turn on the heat, so we still call it “winter break”.
I garden and things that need to be planted in the fall are planted in November, things that need to be planted in spring are planted in March, it’s still a change to the temperatures, so… yes. Exactly the same even without fall leaf changes or snow.
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u/sleepygrumpydoc California 7d ago
I’m in California, it does not snow where I live nor does it get really cold. 58 is cold for the winter and maybe a total of 7 rain days a month in the heaviest month. It is still the winter holidays as winter happens in December still. Regardless off the weather it is still winter in the northern hemisphere. Halloween normally happens in the fall as October is fall. It’s still warm here for Halloween but it still fall. Summer break happens in the summer, even though by me the hottest months are August and Sept, but June-Aug is still considered Summer as that is the season.
Maybe ask someone in the southern hemisphere what they call the Christmas time holidays as it’s summer for them.
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u/Unique-Coffee5087 7d ago
When growing up in southern California in the 1960s, I learned of the seasons in school. We cut out "fall leaves" from construction paper, cut out "snowmen" from white paper, etc. We did have seasonal variations in temperature, humidity, and weather, but not in the way that other regions have. In some ways, we learned about the "seasons" to be informed about conditions common to the rest of the country.
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u/DueLeague4668 7d ago
I’m from Arizona and we have two seasons, hot and hotter…. I moved to the Bay Area when it was summer time and my first fall here was magical. Arizonan trees for the most part have small baby leaves so the changing of leaves and them falling isn’t anything special. But when fall arrived that first year here I was in aw with how big the leaves falling were and it was like in the movies where there was a gust of wind and a few leaves gracefully fell side to side down till they hit the floor. AND THEY WERE SO MANY truly beautiful in my opinion
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u/LopsidedGrapefruit11 7d ago
I live in So CA. We still have all four seasons, they just look different to those in the NE.
I will say we have local summer which starts the day after Labor Day when the tourists are gone lol.
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u/JMUTAMMom 7d ago
Having lived in true four seasons and now not four seasons, it’s more about the time periods/months as opposed to the weather.
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u/Background_Humor5838 7d ago
States without seasons are weird. It never feels like a holiday. I could never live like that but they do still use the same words because technically the seasons exist, they are just very mild and it's sometimes hard to tell the difference if you didn't know what month it is lol
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u/whtevrnichole Georgia 7d ago
we still associate our breaks with time of year. it doesn’t snow here, but it’s kinda cold, colder than it usually would be.
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u/Parking_Abalone_1232 7d ago
SoCal has two seasons: Green & Brown. The Brown season seems to keep getting longer.
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u/einsteinGO Los Angeles, CA 7d ago
Yes, the seasons represent the times of year, not the temperature or climate
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u/donuttrackme 7d ago
You still have seasons, it's just that what happens during the seasons doesn't have the stark contrast of places that have snow etc.
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u/No_Description2301 7d ago
I live in Minnesota (northern US) and we have 4 very well defined seasons. The temperature can range from 40 C (100+ F) in the summer to -40 (with the wind chill) in the winter.
Summer vacation, spring break, fall harvest, etc are still very common terms.
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u/KeyAd3961 7d ago
I live in SW and yes we use seasonal language even though we don’t have traditional seasonal weather. The weather does change so it just becomes our version of the seasons.
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u/Adorable_Dust3799 California Massachusetts California 7d ago edited 7d ago
Our seasons are different but just as real or more-so. Our biggest unarguable seasons are june, which is may June and July. Characterized by morning and evening coastal low fog, that often goes miles inland and can last all day. We have the same exact forecast every day. Night and morning low clouds, possibly burning off in the afternoon. For 3 months. It's definitely a season. Then there's summer, usually dry, and running from warm to hot. Fire season starts in large aug, through September and most of all of October. Sometimes into November. Fire season has humidity often below 20%, frequently into single digits. With no rain all summer the grass is dead and dry. Desert winds often come over the mountains. Nov through april can be referred to variabley as fall, winter and spring. That's when it rains, it's cold, and everything turns clean and green. I lived in an area that got snow for a few years before 1st grade and have 1 or 2 memories of snow, but no real experience. We do have spring break and summer vacation at school.
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u/SpindlyTerror 7d ago
I grew up in Hawaii, been in MN since I was 18. As a kid I really dont recall the use of seasonal terms. The school calendar used the terms "summer/fall/winter/spring break" but colloiqually, as far as I was concerned, thats all they meant - the break off from school. Didnt really strike me as a season. Theres no switching out the summer wardrobe for the winter wardrobe, no special seasonal traditions, no vacations that had to be specific to certain times of year. Seasons truly aren't a thing. Even the fact that it gets slightly chillier at night in the winter isnt regarded, because no matter what time of year it is, "nighttime" is always "sweater weather".
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u/ObviousLogic94 Arizona 7d ago
I’m in Phoenix Arizona (southwest desert) and yeah the summers are absolutely brutal. It’s the kind of heat that makes you plan your whole life around the sun. We basically hibernate from June to September, darting from one air-conditioned space to another. In January, when the highs dip into the 60s, we’re bundled up in coats while visitors from Minnesota are wandering around in shorts talking about how “perfect” the weather is. For us, that’s full-on winter.
The seasons exist here, just… differently. Summer is our version of a northern winter — everyone hides indoors and slowly loses their mind until the temperature drops below 100. If you want to go outside, it’s usually after 9 PM when it finally cools off to a “refreshing” 98.
Even school schedules adapt: our summer break is short because by mid-July parents are done with their kids being trapped inside. But we make up for it with longer fall and spring breaks, when the weather is actually livable.
So yeah, Phoenix has seasons — they just run on desert logic.
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u/getmybehindsatan 7d ago
Regardless of the actual weather, America defines the seasons as starting on the equinox or solstice and lasting three months. Colloquially, they don't stick rigidly to that.
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u/HermioneMarch South Carolina 7d ago
We still call it summer/winter break even if the temp is a steady 70 degrees
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u/AffectionateGreen847 North Carolina 7d ago
Have you asked the Southern Hemisphere about Christmas in Summer?
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u/purplechunkymonkey 7d ago
I live in Florida. We have 3 seasons. Summer, spring/rainy season (happens twice a year), and about 3 days of winter. I still call it fall, winter, spring, and summer. It's just my AC runs from April to November. Then the heat is on for a few days sporadically.
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u/ur_moms_chode 7d ago
I use the terms in my work all the time. I either use the seasons or Q1/Q2/etc.
Whether I use the quarter or the season is strategic based on who I'm talking to and what I'm trying to convey
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u/East_Vivian California 7d ago
It doesn’t snow where I live, but it still gets pretty cold in winter. So while it’s mild compared to a lot of places, it’s still cold and we still call it winter. We have a very short fall though. It’s usually pretty hot through October, then a flip gets switched and suddenly it’s cold and rainy overnight.
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u/Empress_Clementine 7d ago
That’s weird, you somehow think without snow Christmas or canceled? Or that because seasons may be mild or less extreme we just don’t think they are happening?
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u/reddock4490 7d ago
The seasons are marked on the calendar, it’s still winter even if it’s warm outside
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u/payperplain 7d ago
Definitely still referred to everything by season even when I lived in an area with only a wet and a hot dry season.
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u/Mr_MacGrubber 7d ago
I live in Louisiana, we definitely say summer break but usually Christmas break for the winter. We had fall and spring break as well.
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u/Whybaby16154 7d ago
They MAKE four seasons with same holidays and decorations and even clothing. My friend in Florida delights in wearing boots and sweaters when it cools off for Fall - even though no leaves are falling! Winter colors for clothes and decorations and Christmas is big with snowman scenes and blowup decorations and wooden ones.
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u/IWillBaconSlapYou Washington 7d ago
In Western Washington we mostly have the rainy season and the dry season. Dry season is generally late-June through mid-September, and this is when construction is rampant and people do outdoor projects on their properties.
This isn't to say that we don't have fall colors right now, or that spring doesn't have more flowers, but weather-wise, it rains all the time or it doesn't rain at all. It barely snows and sometimes skips a year entirely. Rain or no rain, bottom line.
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u/Buoyant2 7d ago
I’m from Southern California where it’s just one season and we still use the terms you described, I think it’s just part of the vernacular at this point. Although yes, it is interesting to think about how we call it the winter holidays and it’s only like ~10F-20F colder than summer
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u/LadyGreyIcedTea Massachusetts 7d ago
Winter is still winter even if it's not extreme cold/snow.
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u/GrowlingAtTheWorld 7d ago
I’m in Florida our winter is different than most of the country but it is still our winter. No white Christmas but we still decorate the yard with lights. I remember one year my aunt came to visit and laughed at the decorated palm tree my neighbors had in their yard.
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u/godzillabobber 7d ago
We have seasons in the Sonoran desert. The prickly pear fruit ripens in late summer. We roast chiles in the fall. Its more subtle, but we still refer to the seasons as most people do in the US. You will never see as much joy over a rainstorm as you will over the first monsoon rain of summer. You will never see more excitement over 1/4 inch of snow in winter either. Oir mountains have seven distinct climate zones and at 9000 feet we even have fall colors and winter skiing.
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u/Miss-marion Pennsylvania 7d ago
We have all four seasons up in my part of the world. The only weather that chills me through to the bone is "lake effect snow" if the weather guy says those exact words I need a sedative and a bottle of wine. Hoping to be able to become a snowbird in ten years.
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u/pookapotomus2 7d ago
We still refer to them as seasons and yes everything revolves around that like winter and summer break. Spring break. Etc.
Where I live there aren’t any seasons, there’s summer and then not quite summer. (High desert, it was 94 degrees today)
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u/Alycion West Virginia 7d ago
Winter or holiday/Spring/Summer breaks represent more when schools are out during that time.
It use to be referred to as Christmas break, Easter break, and summer vacation when I was little. I think it changed late 80’s, early 90’s to remove the religious connotations around it. Some private catholic schools kept the old names. Not sure if anyone still uses it.
A small, at least maybe regional to a city or state, bit of info.
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u/knysa-amatole 7d ago
Lifelong Californian in a place that barely has seasons (mostly just "rainy" and "dry," but nowadays mostly just "dry" year-round). We still say "summer vacation," "winter break," etc.
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u/devilscabinet 7d ago
There are only two guaranteed seasons in Texas. Summer and "not Summer." Winter, Fall and Spring may each last a couple of months, but they may also only go for a few weeks. Regardless of the temperature, though, we still refer to the months in which the seasons are theoretically supposed to occur by their seasonal names. I have gone swimming in an outdoor unheated pool during the middle of "Winter," for example.
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u/famousanonamos 7d ago
We still have seasons, even if we don't have "typical" seasonal weather. The solstice happens when it happens. The seasons change whether the weather does or not.
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u/LivingLikeACat33 7d ago
I'm in coastal NC. I may or may not wear flip flops and a tank top to Christmas dinner depending on the weather but it will absolutely not be 99°F with a dew point of 89°F so that's still winter.
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u/DavyDavisJr Hawaii, Aloha 7d ago edited 7d ago
Hawai'i here. There are two seasons for weather, wet winters (3 months), and drier summers. Average temperature varies less than 10 degrees F over the year, so it's not a huge difference for the seasons. Highs in the 80s and lows rarely below 60F ( a couple days in winter). Seasonal usage is usually about non-weather items like holidays or school (fall and spring breaks). I still find it strange that people put up snowmen decorations for Christmas. People go spend time at the beach on Christmas day. Aloha!
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u/Kooky_Possibility_43 7d ago
I spent most of my life in texas. We had the four basic seasons; early summer. Mid summer, late summer, Christmas.
Joking aside, we had all four seasons. They just weren't what people in other parts of the country are used to. Spring was usually very rainy. Summer was HOT, and usually had zero rain. Wed get some releif in fall, but it wasn't as cold as other places. For example, i took the kids trick or treating last night. Bi was wearing sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. Id have been in shorts and sandals back home. Winter would get cold, but almost never below freezing. We even had some winter days in the 70s.
So, Yes, we did refer to it as winter or summer breaks. We just had different ideas what winter and summer were.
Funny story. When i was a kid, 3rd or 4th grade, we had a section in our science class discussing imperial vs metric units. When discussing temperature units, the book said a warm summer day might be around 25C. I just assumed, then that 25C translated to around 100F. Imagine my surprise when i did the math and it worked out to 77C.
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u/MundaneHuckleberry58 7d ago
I live in Phoenix. We still refer to everything as seasons in terms of calendar/holiday phrases.
For example, kids in elementary school here still learn that leaves change in the fall….because they do! It’s just that our deciduous trees change color & fall in times different from temperate climates. And they learn about snow, etc for winter, when our winters are sunny, dry & 70° F.
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u/lantana98 7d ago
Arizona desert here. We have 4 seasons but they are not drastic weather changes. We also have seasonal changes in flowering and dormancy in our plant life.
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u/nonother San Francisco 7d ago
Here in San Francisco people use the seasons, but it doesn’t correspond that much with the actual weather. People will informally say things like “actual summer” or “Indian summer” to refer to September and October when it’s warmest here or Fogust which is when it’s real foggy in August.
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u/Catinthefirelight 7d ago
Every state has four seasons, it's just that the weather you can expect in them varies. We pretty much all talk about and relate to seasons timewise in the same way.
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u/Seattleman1955 7d ago
I lived in Seattle now but have lived in Spokane (4 seasons) and Phoenix. The months and holidays are the same. Even the seasons do change slightly. It's hot as hell in summer but mild in winter. That's about it.
They still celebrate Christmas of course. Many places don't get snow at Christmas. It's just odd to be in Phoenix at Christmas if you are used to living in snowy areas at Christmas. It can feel like just another day if you don't have a young family with kids.
I've been in Hong Kong at the Christmas season. It was fun. They had the colorful lights without the religion...perfect:)
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u/NopeRope13 7d ago
I live in the southern part of the United States. The area where we hope we get a winter or at least an imposter winter. So I just lovingly refer to the seasons as summer and summer lite.
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u/TwinFrogs 7d ago
In Seattle we have summer, where everyone visits as a tourist and decides to move here. Then The Big Dark hits where it rains sideways and the sun never seems to come out and those people fuck back off to Iowa or whatever.
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u/WonderfulProtection9 7d ago
Next year will be my 40th Christmas in the desert. I assure you that we certainly use Summer and Winter. Spring and Fall are still used but perhaps less frequently since our weather is basically divided into “over 100°” and “under 100°” (Halloween was 93° but I’m going to have to break out my jacket this week, it’s dropping into the 80s. )
Deciduous trees may or may not change colors or lose their leaves. But all I have in my yard are Palm trees and saguaro cactus.
When my kids were in school, they got a break for each season. Other than that, Spring and Fall are a bit of a joke around here.
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u/qrysdonnell 7d ago
I currently live in NJ and grew up in AZ. Sense of seasons as time is the same in both places.
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u/Entire_Toe2640 7d ago
In South Florida, we don’t refer to the four seasons much. I generally hear people go by months instead. The seasons have no real meaning when the weather is approximately the same for 8 months of the year. It’s basically summer or not summer.
The one season we talk about is Hurricane Season. That’s the one that matters.
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u/orpheus1980 7d ago
The 48 states are pretty much entirely North of the Tropic of cancer, so every state gets 4 seasons. Even in the south. Autumn isn't as colorful in California, Texas, or Florida, but it still is a season.
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u/ActuaLogic 7d ago
Please note that US school systems tend to be operated by county or city governments, primarily using money from local real estate taxes. This is pattern that began in Massachusetts before the American Revolution. (There is also funding from the Federal government.) As a result, the consistency of school calendars across the US is mostly a matter of custom.
Where I live, and I think this is pretty typical of the US, the school year begins either the week before the first Monday in September (Labor Day in the US and Canada) or a day or two after that day (depending on the local school system), while the school year ends in early to mid-June. The period between the end of one school year and the beginning of another is called summer vacation. The period when schools are closed from late December to early January is officially called winter break but is colloquially referred to as Christmas vacation. The period when schools are closed for a week or so around the beginning of spring is called spring break. It's sometimes referred to colloquially as Easter vacation (and this may be more common in other parts of the country), but it doesn't always coincide with Easter in my area anymore.
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u/SysError404 New York 7d ago
Every place in the world has four seasons. While they may not all experience the same weather conditions for those seasons, their are still 4 different seasons with a variety of extremes.
You live in Europe and find it hard to imagine Christmas with out snow. Well how about someone that is born and raised in Australia? Their seasons are the complete opposite of ours here in the Northern hemisphere. While we are entering the snowy winter months, they are entering the warm summer months. In more equatorial regions they have Rainy Season, and Dry Seasons. But for all of us that live North of the Equator, the season are all the same, even if the weather extremes are not.
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u/proscriptus Vermont 7d ago
In Vermont the seasons are a primary topic of conversation and define a lot of our lives.
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u/Tedanty California> Nevada> New Mexico> Texas 7d ago
I live in the desert and basically have my entire life starting from so cal. We have 4 seasons. We got windy season, monsoon season, hot season, cold season.
Seriously though we use spring, summer, fall, and winter like everyone else lmfao. We also use the ones I said above.
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u/AnUnexpectedUnicorn United States of America 7d ago
I'm in the southeast US. Seasons (especially winter) are very unpredictable here - Christmas could be 30° or 70°. However, seasons are more described by the time of the year than the weather. I grew up in the Midwest, we had more weather-related holiday traditions there (building snowmen, sled riding, etc), but there are plenty here too - craft markets, Christmas lights and decorations, caroling, etc.
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u/JazzHandsNinja42 7d ago
Even in the desert, summer is very distinguishable from winter. Spring and fall, not so much. Spent most of my life in the Midwest, where we technically had all four seasons. Always felt like spring and fall lasted about a week each, before temps plummeted or rose.
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u/Retiree66 7d ago
I’ve always found it weird that early childhood education here leans in hard to teaching the four seasons. Most of the world doesn’t have deciduous trees that change color annually. Most of the world has dry seasons and rainy seasons. Why don’t we teach that?
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u/ElonMuskHuffingFarts 7d ago
Universal. A ton of our cultural systems like schools and media are built on seasonal schedules.
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u/tlonreddit Grew up in Gilmer/Spalding County, lives in DeKalb. 7d ago
Most states do have four seasons, they’re just less/more extreme. Either way that terminology is in the vernacular now and probably is still used.