Snow blankets the greater Sydney region

Australian Broadcasting Commission ^ | 12 Oct 2012 | Jodie van de Wetering

[Woodman]

Apparently you are missing the point. Spring is a relative term, the equinoxes are an absolute. The article did not state x number of days past the equinox, it was relative to their perspective of spring.

[xp38]

Canberra is somewhat close to the only place it regularly snows in the Australian winter. The appropriately named Snowy Mountains. Nevertheless I am not sure. The ACT mentioned in the article stands for Australian Capitol Territory and includes Canberra so they did get snow in this time.

[naturalman1975]

A serious answer to your question from an Australian. The seasons in Australia are not only opposite from those of the northern hemisphere (for obvious geographical reasons relating to the tilt of the earth, as you know) but are also considered to begin on different dates for historical reasons.

In the early days of European settlement, when Australia was settled by military personnel and convicts and everybody was dependent on the government for supplies, both soldiers and convicts were issued with new clothing where necessary on the 1st day of each month. They had two uniforms - summer and winter. By the 1st December, temperatures in the area around Sydney (the first settlement) were already extremely warm - too warm to safely wear winter uniform, so that became the date that summer uniform was issued. Our mild (by European standards) winter meant that issuing winter uniform six months later at the start of June, didn't cause problems (while it can start getting cold in April and May, it's still not bad compared to Europe), and so that was what was done. Over time, these dates became the official start dates for summer and winter for all government purposes and we wound up with four seasons of three calendar months each.

It doesn't work perfectly - March, which is officially part of Autumn is often a very hot month, but it's what we've wound up with.

[Izzy Dunne]

these dates became the official start dates for summer and winter for all government purposes

OK, so THAT's what I was wondering. The government (and therefore the general populace, I suppose) has adopted their own seasonal start dates of Sept 1, Dec 1, etc.

So, by that calendar, they are over a month into spring.

You learn something every day. Thanks for your explanation.

[Gay State Conservative]

So, by that calendar, they are over a month into spring.

Although I've never been there during their winter my limited experience at other times of the year is that the climate is pretty mild...certainly when compared to the winters of Minnesota or even parts of Georgia,for example.The one exception to that "moderate weather" observation that I experienced was a visit to the "outback" in early March.My God was it hot!

[Oztrich Boy]

We're not quite three weeks into autumn up here - how do they get to be over a month into spring?

Because in the Southern Hemisphere we manage to be punctual and start our seasons on the first day of the month, not three weeks later.

[Oztrich Boy]

Springtime in sunny South Australia