Fall is here

Now it is officially fall. How do I know? Because this is the first night I keep my windows closed? Because there is rainfall? Because it's chillier? Nope. I know we're experiencing fall because we passed March 21st.

Apparently in several countries seasons of the year are defined by exact dates, dictated by the equinox. So, fall starts on March 21st, winter on June 21st, spring on September 21st and winter on December 21st. The 21st of this month Facebook-updates were mainly about the fall. On the radio the hosts talked about how warm the climate will be during the first weeks of the fall. It was a given fact. Summer was gone.

In Finland they're experiencing now a wonderful weather. +5 - +7'C, sunshine, melting snow... How do we know that it's spring? Because the sun is shining. The climate is getting warmer. It's unlikely that it will snow anymore. Spring comes when it chooses to, usually in February, March or April. (As a sidenote here - Usually temperature in most places in the world stays above zero. Therefore there is no need to stress the fact that the temperature is above freezing point. On the contrary we Finns do stress that difference. Usually we say that it's "plus 10 degrees", "plus 3 degrees" and so on.)

So now the upper and the lower hemisphere have stepped into the next season. A wonderful and beautiful season with soft sunlight, colors and more agreeable weather, whichever season it may be.