Winter
Winter is one of the four
seasons of
temperate zones. It is the season with the shortest days and the lowest
temperatures. In areas farther from the
equator, winter is often marked by
snow.
Depending on place and culture, what is considered to be the start and end of winter vary. Contemporary
meteorology takes winter to be the months of December, January, and February in the
Northern Hemisphere and June, July, and August in the
Southern Hemisphere. However, many cultures in
Europe and
East Asia consider winter to begin in November.
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Winter in Germany.+++In many parts of the world, winter is associated with snow and ice. Winter in Germany (above) |
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Animation of snowcover changing with the seasons. |
Meteorological winter is the season having the shortest days (which vary greatly according to
latitude) and the lowest temperatures. Nighttime predominates the winter season, and in some regions it has the highest rate of
precipitation as well as prolonged dampness due to permanent snow cover in such areas. Measured
astronomically, winter begins on the shortest day of the year, and each day of winter has more sunlight than the previous one.
Outside the equatorial areas, winter is cold and (particularly in the Northern Hemisphere) snowy.
Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays. A rare meteorological phenomenon encountered during winter is
ice fog, which is composed of
ice crystals suspended in the air and happening only at very low temperatures, below about −30 °C [
1].
Astronomically, it starts with the
winter solstice (around
December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and
June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), and ends with the
spring equinox (around
March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and
September 21 in the Southern Hemisphere). In
meteorology, it is by convention counted instead as the whole months of June, July and August in the Southern Hemisphere and December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland the winter solstice is traditionally considered as midwinter, the winter season beginning
November 1 on
All Hallows or
Samhain. Winter ends and spring begins on
Imbolc or
Candlemas, which is February 1 or 2. This system of seasons is based on the length of days exclusively. The three-month period of the shortest days and weakest solar radiation occurs during November, December and January in the Northern Hemisphere (May-July in the Southern).
In
Chinese astronomy (and other
East Asian
calendars), winter is taken to commence on or around
November 7, with the
Jiéqì known as (立冬
lì dōng, literally "establishment of winter".)
In reality, the three-month period associated with the coldest average temperatures typically begins somewhere in late November or early December in the Northern Hemisphere. If "winter" is defined as the statistically coldest quarter of the year, then the astronomical definition is too late by almost all local climate standards, and the traditional English/Irish definition of November 1 (May 1 in the Southern Hemisphere) is almost always too early to fit this standard. (In other words, there are very few temperate climates in which the vernal equinox is on average colder than the winter solstice, and very few temperate climates in which
Samhain is colder than
Imbolc)
The tilt of the earth's axis relative to its orbital plane has a dramatic effect on the weather. The popular belief that winter is caused by the Earth being farther from the Sun than in summer is not true. In fact, winter occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the Earth is closest to the Sun.
The earth is tilted at an angle of 23°27' (23 degrees 27 minutes) to the plane of its orbit, and this causes different latitudes on the Earth to directly face the Sun as the Earth moves through its orbit. It is this variation that primarily brings about the seasons. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures than the Northern Hemisphere.
During winter in either hemisphere, sunlight hits that hemisphere at an oblique angle. In regions experiencing winter, the same amount of
solar radiation is spread out over a larger area (see
Effect of sun angle on climate). This effect is compounded by the larger distance that the light must travel through the atmosphere, allowing the atmosphere to filter more of this already limited heat.
Animals
To survive the harshness of winter, many animals have developed different behavioral and morphological adaptations:
*
Migration is a common effect of winter upon animals, affecting basically
birds. However some birds, the
cardinal for example, do not migrate.
*
Hibernation is a state of reduced
metabolic activity during the winter. These animals "sleep" during winter and only come out as warm weather returns. For example,
gophers,
bears,
frogs,
snakes and
bats hibernate.
*Some animals store food for the winter and live upon it instead of hibernating completely. This is the case of
squirrels,
beavers,
skunks,
badgers and
raccoons.
*Resistance is observed when an animal endures winter, but changes in ways such as color and
musculature. The color of the
fur or
plumage are changed to white in order to be confused with snow and thus, to retain their
cryptic coloration year round. Examples are the
ptarmigan, the
arctic fox, the
weasel, the
white-tailed jack rabbit or the
mountain hare.
*Some fur-coated mammals grow a heavier fur coat during the winter. This improves the heat-retention qualities of the fur. The coat is then shed following the winter season to allow better cooling. The heavier winter coat made this season a favorite for
trappers who sought more profitable skins.
*
Snow also affects the ways animals behave, as many take advantage of the insulating properties of snow by burrowing in it.
Mice and
voles typically live under the snow layer.
Plants
Annual plants never survive the winter. As for
perennial plants, many small ones profit from the insulating effects of snow by being buried in it. Larger plants, particularly
deciduous trees, usually let their upper part die, but their roots are still protected by the snow layer. Few plants bloom in the winter, though exceptions include the (which flowers in time for
Chinese New Year).
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Snowboarder in the halfpipe |
Snow activities
*
Bobsledding - a
winter sport in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked purpose-built iced tracks in a gravity-powered, steerable
sled.
*
Skiing - the activity of gliding over snow using what is now fiberglass planks called
skis that are strapped to the skiers' feet with
ski bindings.
*
Sledding - a downhill activity where the user uses a
sled to glide down the hill.
*
Snowball fight - a physical
game in which snowballs are thrown with the intention of hitting someone else.
*
Snowboarding - an increasingly common sport where participants strap a composite board to their feet and slide down a snow-covered mountain.
*
Snowshoeing - a means of travel in which one is able to walk on top of the snow by increasing the
surface area of their feet.
*
Snowman building - creating a man-like model out of snow
Ice activities
*
Ice skating - a means of
traveling on ice with skates, narrow (and sometimes
parabolic) blade-like devices moulded into special
boots (or, more primitively, without boots, tied to regular
footwear).
*
Ice boating - a means of travel in a specialized boat similar in appearance to a sailboat but fitted with skis or runners (skates) and designed to run over ice instead of (liquid) water.
*
Ice fishing - the sport of
catching fish with lines and hooks through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of
water.
*
Ice diving - a type of
penetration diving where the dive takes place under ice.
*
Ice sculpture - elaborate sculptures are carved out of blocks of ice.
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Long, harsh winters are believed to have affected the Russian national character. |
Passing seasons change the habits and moods of people. Around November and December in the northern hemisphere, a gloominess nicknamed "winter blues", "February blahs", "Holiday depression", or doldrums, is informally noted amongst people. The severest cases of this type of
depression is diagnosed as
seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Symptoms include sleeping more, tiredness, depression, and physical aches. Although causes include genetic disposition and stress, the prevailing environmental influence is decreased exposure to
light due to winter weather patterns.
Winter is highly
symbolic of many things to many people and has been used to represent various things by artists in all media. Some use winter to suggest death, as in
Robert Frost's "
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". Some use it to suggest the absence of hope, as in
C. S. Lewis's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where it was always winter but never
Christmas. Winter is one concerto in
Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons"; and there are many examples of four paintings, all showing the same scene in different seasons. Ursula K. LeGuin's novel
The Left Hand of Darkness is set on a planet named Winter. In
Alex Raymond's comic strip,
Flash Gordon, there is a land called Frigia, where it is always winter. The land of Frigia is also featured in the serial
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. Other uses of winter in the graphic arts occur in
Winsor McCay's
Little Nemo in Slumberland. There are many films in which a winter setting plays an important role,
Fargo being an example. In addition to this, novels such as
Ethan Frome also use a winter setting to mirror the bleak, frozen feelings that the characters harbor.
In
Greek mythology,
Hades kidnapped
Persephone to be his wife.
Zeus ordered Hades to return her to
Demeter, the goddess of the earth and her mother. However, Hades tricked Persephone into eating the food of the dead so Zeus decreed Persephone would spend six months with Demeter and six months with Hades. During the time when her daughter is with Hades, Demeter becomes depressed and causes winter.
*
Old Man Winter*
Father Winter*
Jack FrostImage:Ambrogio Lorenzetti 010.jpg|An allegory of Winter, by Ambrogio LorenzettiImage:Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Winter, 1573.jpg|Winter, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo Image:Jack-frost.jpg|19th century cartoon of Jack Frost as a United States major-general during the American Civil WarImage:ComplutumEstaciones.jpg|Roman mosaic of the four seasons*
Russian Winters of 1812/13 and
1941/42
*In
Europe, the winters of 1962/63 and 1981/82 were abnormally cold.
*The
Winter of Discontent is the name for the
British winter of 1978-79, during which there were widespread strikes. Lorry drivers, train drivers, nurses, most public sector employees, refuse collectors, and workers at
Ford Motors all went on strike. Most notorious however was an unofficial strike by gravediggers.
*
List of winter festivals*
Nuclear winter*
Volcanic winter*
Winter Olympics*Rosenthal, Norman E. (1998). Winter Blues. New York: The Guilford Press. ISBN 1572303956
*
"Winter of animals and plants in Finland" by Northern Nature Project
*
Native American seasons myth from the Zion Natural History Associationnds-nl:Wienter
