I lived for a long time believing that the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall (as James Taylor would arrange them) began on the same days every year.

To wit: December 21 for winter, March 21 for spring, June 21 for summer, September 21 for fall.

But now it seems that this year … summer isn’t over until September 23.

What is up with that?

Having lived for decades in areas of the world where the idea of “summer begone!” is psychologically important (if climatologically irrelevant), I was disturbed to find out that autumn did not begin today, September 22. I’m talking a full day of autumn here.

Turns out, it’s still summer, which I don’t like. “Summer bad, autumn, not so bad” in my world. Simple as that.

But something called the Astronomical Union has decreed that fall will begin on September 23, this year, in the northern hemisphere.

Here is the information from one of those Q&A sites, but I present it without the blinking advertisements:

The official first day of the astronomical fall in 2011 as mandated by the International Astronomical Union is September 23 for the northern hemisphere and March 20/21 (depending on the time zone) for the southern hemisphere.

The official first day of the climatological fall as mandated by the World Meteorological Organization is always September 1 local time for the northern hemisphere and March 1 local time for the southern hemisphere.

In temperate climates, an ecological fall can be determined that starts when most birds begin their migrations to their wintering grounds or when the leaves of deciduous trees turn color and fall to the ground.

Yes, in hot climates summer doesn’t end with the start of fall. Not in terms of climate. Nearly everywhere I have lived, late September can be awful. Early October, too. Certainly, that is the case in the UAE.

But I like the idea that “technically” the summer is over. We just happen to be enduring some hot autumn days.

Also, if a season isn’t starting until September 23, don’t we need a Leap Year (or two) to get us back to where we’re supposed to be?

Anyway, another day to wait to have summer behind us. I guess the good news is, fall and winter will start later and last later than I normally expect. Maybe.