free summer coloring pages
free summer coloring pages
Summer generally refers to the warmest and humid season between spring and autumn, from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, this falls from the June solstice to the September equinox, while in the Southern Hemisphere it falls from the December solstice to the March equinox. Scientifically, the effect and rate of summer heat is a complex matter and always varies depending on the location and axis of earth. Similarly, summer marks the warmest time of year with the longest days.
The seasons are popularly considered in some Western countries to start at the equinoxes and solstices, based on astronomical reckoning. Thus, in the Southern Hemisphere, based on astronomy, summer begins on the day of the December solstice and ends on the March equinox. When it is summer in the southern hemisphere it is winter in the northern hemisphere, and vice versa. But, because the seasonal lag is less than 1/10th of a year (except near large bodies of water), the meteorological start of the season, which is based on average temperature patterns, precedes by about three weeks the start of the astronomical season.[1] According to meteorologists, summer extends for the whole months of December, January and February in the southern hemisphere, and the whole months of June, July and August in the northern hemisphere. This meteorological definition of summer also aligns with the commonly viewed notion of summer as the season with the longest (and warmest) days of the year, in which daylight predominates. From the astronomical perspective, spring days lengthen from equinox to solstice and summer days shorten from solstice to equinox, while meteorological summer encompasses the build-up to the longest day and a diminishing thereafter, so that summer has many more hours of daylight than spring.
Today, the meteorological reckoning of the seasons is used in Australia, Denmark and the former USSR; it is also used by many people in the United Kingdom, where summer is thought of as extending from mid-May to mid-August. In Ireland, summer begins on 1 May and ends 31 July, by the Irish calendar. Meanwhile, the astronomical definition is more frequently used in the United States.
School’s almost out…What do you have planned to keep your students engaged over summer vacation?