What is Season?
{{other uses}} [[File:Four seasons.jpg|thumb|right|270px|The four seasons, [[Spring (season)|spring]], [[summer]], [[autumn]], and [[winter]].]] A '''season''' is a part of a [[year]]. Many areas of the [[Earth]] have four seasons in a year: [[Spring (season)|spring]], [[summer]], [[autumn]] and [[winter]]. ==Overview== In some areas, there are a different number of seasons. In places which are [[tropical]] and [[subtropical]], there are two seasons: the [[rain]]y (or wet, or [[monsoon]]) season and the dry season. This is because the rain changes more than the temperature. Examples include the tropical parts of Australia (the northern parts of [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]] and the [[Northern Territory]]). These are in addition to, or replace the regular season names.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-weather-and-the-seasons |title=Australian weather and the seasons |publisher=Australian Government |accessdate=11 July 2016 |archive-date=4 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104195910/http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-weather-and-the-seasons |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Summer]] is a warm season because the days are longer and the [[Sun]] is high in the sky, giving direct light to the ground. [[Winter]] is a cold season because the days are shorter and the Sun is low in the sky, giving indirect light to the ground. Both the changes in the length of the day and the height of the Sun at noon are caused by the tilt of the Earth's spin axis with respect to the plane of the Earth's path around the Sun. At any time, in any season, the [[north]]ern and [[south]]ern hemispheres ([[wikt:half|halves]] of the Earth) have opposite seasons. {{Seasons}} ==Dates== Seasons begin and end on different dates in different countries. In the [[United States]], people say the seasons begin at the [[Solstice|solstices]] and [[Equinox|equinoxes]]. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year