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This is similar to my "Summer vs. Winter" poll I did a few weeks back, but this one has a few differences. You can now choose between any season and also tell us all which one you hate. Why make this thread? - Well why not! My favourite season is quite a difficult choice between Spring and Summer, but I think Summer does just come out a bit farther ahead. This is because I like the feeling of being warm and having long days to do what you want with. I also like the powerful thunderstorms that Summer creates. Spring however does bring quite varied weather, like the possibility of a March snowfall and an early arrival of Summer in May, but as said, I think I prefer Summer slightly more. My least favourite season would definately be Autumn. I absolutely hate Autumn! The only thing I like about it is how beautiful the trees can look but that is about it. September is the only decent month with the other two simply being a mix of horrible wet and windy weather. It is also too cold and too dark to now enjoy the sun and warmth and it's too mild for snow. You're also watching everything die and rot, especially in October and November. Autumn is just depressing in my opinion and that's why I hate it!

Autumn here on Netweather tends to strike up the warm autumns/mild winters debate. This is a theory that suggests that warmer autumns are often followed by milder winters. Since this debate pops up quite a lot every autumn, I thought that I do a bit of research myself, and either prove or disprove this theory. I have taken the mean average UK temperature for every autumn and its following winter for every year since autumn 1980 and the following winter 1980-81, all the way up until our most recent pairing of autumn 2013 and the following winter 2013-14. I then plotted all of this data on a scatter graph (below). The results show that there is a slight positive correlation between the two, meaning that there is a slight tendency for a warm autumn to be followed by a milder winter and a cooler autumn to be followed by a colder winter. However I must stress that the correlation is really very weak. This is because there are many instances of the opposite occuring (ie. a warm autumn followed by a cold winter and a cool autumn being followed by a mild winter). This means that my research would suggest that a warmer autumn does slightly increase the chances of us getting a milder winter, however it is only a very, very slight increase.

Since there always seems to be a debate, mainly at the end of every summer and winter, about how the seasons are defined, in this thread I'm going to run over some of the most common season reckonings. Meteorological reckoning The meteorological reckoning of seasons is the one that many of us are familiar with and use on a regular basis. It is used by many Brits and quite a lot of Europeans. The meteorological reckoning is one of the simplest methods of defining the seasons. It basically attaches three calendar months to each season. For example: Spring: 1 March to 31 May Summer: 1 June to 31 August Autumn: 1 September to 30 November Winter: 1 December to 28/29 February Astronomical reckoning The astronomical reckoning is less common here in the UK, but is still used by a fair few, however this reckoning is mainly used by North America. It works on the basis of solstices and equinoxes, therefore the positions of Earth on it's orbit. Very simply a new season will begin when it's respective solstice or equinox occurs. The most common dates for the astronomical seasons are: Spring: 20 March to 20 June Summer: 21 June to 22 September Autumn: 23 September to 20 December Winter: 21 December to 19 March Solar reckoning The solar reckoning of the seasons is virtually unheard of in the UK and most of Europe and North America. However in many East Asian countries, this reckoning is most commonly used. It works in a very similar way to the astronomical reckoning in which it relies on the solstices and equinoxes, but with one key difference - the respective solstice or equinox falls slap bang in the middle of the season. Therefore the usual dates for the solar seasons are: Spring: 4 February to 5 May Summer: 6 May to 7 August Autumn: 8 August to 6 November Winter: 7 November to 3 February Ecological reckoning The ecological reckoning is a bit different to the previous reckonings that I've looked into. This one doesn't really take any interest into Earth's orbit, but instead observes nature. It is also different because it has six seasons, instead of the traditional four that we know of. For example: Prevernal (pre-spring): 25 January to 10 March Vernal (spring): 11 March to 31 May Estival (high summer): 1 June to 14 August Serotinal (late summer): 15 August to 24 September Autumnal (autumn): 25 September to 30 November Hibernal (winter): 1 December to 24 January Traditional Irish reckoning The traditional Irish reckoning of seasons is virtually unused today. It was observed in the traditional Irish calendar and works in a very similar way to the meteorological reckoning, though it also seems to be influenced by the solar reckoning too. The one key difference is that this is one month ahead of the meteorological, so each season begins a month earlier. For example: Spring: 1 February to 30 April Summer: 1 May to 31 July Autumn: 1 August to 31 October Winter: 1 November to 31 January These are the five most widely used seasonal reckonings. If you know of anymore, or you have your own way of defining them, then post below!