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Summer

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Climate and the Weather;
Everyday life

                                                          CAPTION: Seasons

                                                                  Tropical

                                                                Dry season

                                                                Wet season

                                                          CAPTION: Seasons

                                                                 Temperate

                                                                    Spring

                                                                    Summer

                                                                    Autumn

                                                                    Winter

   Summer is a season that is astronomically defined as beginning around
   June 21, and ending around September 23 in the Northern Hemisphere. In
   the Southern Hemisphere, summer begins around December 21 and ends
   around March 21. Summer is defined by convention in meteorology as the
   whole months of June, July, and August, in the Northern Hemisphere, and
   the whole months of December, January, and February, in the Southern
   Hemisphere. The unofficial start of summer is a matter of convention:
   in Ireland it is as early as May 1, in many countries it is considered
   to be June 1, while in others it is as late as July 1. In general,
   seasonal changes occur earlier in coastal regions, so countries close
   to the oceans go for an earlier start to summer than inland ones.
   Summer is commonly viewed as the season with the longest (and warmest)
   days of the year, in which the daylight predominates, through varying
   degrees. In the northern latitudes, twilight is known to last at least
   an hour, sometimes leading to the famous white nights found in St.
   Petersburg and Scandinavia. It is also called the season of the
   midnight sun near the North Pole; in northern Norway for instance.

   For many people in the West, the seasons are considered to start at the
   equinoxes and solstices in an "astronomical" sense. However, due to the
   fact that seasonal lag is less than 1/8 of a year (except near large
   bodies of water), the "meteorological" start of the season precedes, by
   about three weeks, the start of the "astronomical" season. This time
   differential keeps the "meteorologial" definition more symmetrically
   centered around the warmest part of the year than the "astronomical
   one" is. Today, the "meteorological" definition is gaining momentum,
   but the "astronomical" definition is more frequent, and most people
   today still regard it as "official". In fact, the equinoxes and
   solstices of the astronomical seasons are considered to be the
   naturally official beginnings of seasons. The astronomical seasons
   still appear on most calendars. Elsewhere, however, the solstices and
   the equinoxes are taken to mark the mid-points, not the beginning, of
   the seasons. In Chinese astronomy, for example, summer starts on or
   around May 6, with the jiéqì ( solar term) known as Lixia (立夏), i.e.
   "establishment of summer". An example of Western usage would be William
   Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the play takes place
   over the shortest night of the year, which is the summer solstice.

   In Southern and Southeast Asia where the monsoon occurs, summer is more
   generally defined as March to May or early June, their warmest time of
   the year, ending with the onset of the monsoon rains.

   In most countries children are out of school during this time of year,
   although dates vary. Some begin as early as mid-May, although in
   England, from the ages of 5-16, school ends in the middle of July.

   Summer is also the season in which many fruits, vegetables, and other
   plants are in full growth.

Summer in popular culture

   Beaches are popular during summer.
   Enlarge
   Beaches are popular during summer.

   There are many cultural associations with summer. Commercials touting
   summer may involve Beach imagery, including bathing suits, beach balls
   and surf boards. Summer clothings accounts for the effects of increased
   heat and sunshine, including but not limited to: shorts, tee shirts,
   sun dresses, sunglasses, and sandals.

   In the United States, Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff for summer
   and Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, with other peak summer
   travel occurring over July 4 weekend. Because schools let out in the
   summer, this season is common for travel, such as road trips. As a
   result of supply and demand, gas prices tend to increase in the Summer.
   Many students get summer jobs.

   In late summer, back to school sales are common.

Movies

   Since the late 1990s in North America, likely due to release of summer
   blockbusters beginning the first Friday in May, there has been an
   increasing trend for businesses to begin summer promotions on May 1 in
   order to get a head start on tourists. This is likely due to the fact
   that although May is the typically only the fifth warmest month in the
   Northern Hemisphere, it is the third largest month of daylight hours.
   In addition, with an earlier start of the back-to-school promotional
   period along with the trend of having the last day of school before
   Memorial Day in many states forces many retailers to push summer ahead,
   along with the fact that summer is typically the most long-awaited
   season. It comes from the Latin word deaconto, which means hot.

Personifications of Summer

   Summer, a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti

                                          An allegory by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
