Do you think Autumn starts tomorrow?

[Wonderwoman333]

Or does it start the 22nd September?
In which case Winter either starts December 1st or December 22nd too?

I know it depends on whether you are following the meteorological or astronomical calendar but I'm just interested as to what people think?

Yep, that's me as well. The horror one year when I found some end of August.

As long as it's not coat weather, I call it Indian Summer.

I love a dry and clear autumn, I look forward to get wind blown around my face and the crunch of leaves under my shoes.

But I hate damp, dark, rain and cold.

For me it started about a week ago when I first heard the geese flying, and the leaves and conkers started to drop. I go by nature

It started a month ago. Otherwise mid winter and mid summer would make no sense.

I definitely wouldn’t be listening to the meteorologists because they hardly ever get anything right.

For me autumn started a month ago. (Irish)

It just makes sense that is aligned with the harvest which starts in August then September, October and finishes with Samhain. Winter starts 1st November.

It certainly feels autumnal this morning, cool, grey, breezy.

The cross quarter dates fall around the beginning/end of months. Hallowe’en/All Hallows is the best known one. -

Today is both autumn and summer, problem solved.

Summer = 21st March to 21st September with midsummer in June, and when we have BST and the days are longer
Winter = September to March with midwinter in December

Autumn and Spring are subsets that overlap and start on the 1st of the month for convenience.

I think the season turns on the 15th August. After that it's noticeably cooler in the evening and overnight even if the days are still hot. So, yes, autumn has already started. Winter starts on Bonfire Night, which is usually the first day that I need to wear gloves (I'm in the south). The Equinox/Solstice is towards the middle of it's season.

I'm an astronomical calendar type of gal, so for me Autumn starts on the Equinox. I think it better fits the weather patterns where I live.

I don’t have a lot of wardrobe space so I have to put my seasonal clothes away. It takes a few hours and there have been many occasions when I’ve inappropriately dressed for the weather.

As a result I put the date of the season change into my diary (22nd Sept coming up) and I swap out my clothes and household items. It may be a heat wave on 23rd Sept, but you’ll see me in burnt orange and winter boots, and if it’s snowing on the second day of spring, I’ll be freezing my butt off in a striped Breton t shirt.

As a child, I was always bossily telling my parents that Autumn didn't start until 21st September, when they talked about autumn.

But it is noticeably cooler now: some leaves are turning, and the rainy spell we have at the moment after weeks of dry weather makes it feel like autumn. I'm wearing trainers more instead of sandals.

22nd for me. September is usually the nicest month of the year (or has been for the last few years) with temperatures in the high teens and 20s and usually quite sunny. No one is hoodwinking me into thinking that’s autumn, and I’d quite like to drag summer out as long as possible!

But social media seems to have been telling me that autumn started on 1 August (presumably led a lot by the US where I think schools go back in August) and I’m feeling a bit bitter about that still.

Irish calendar here. It measures seasons by the amount of light we get / length of days, which is consistent year on year, not by the weather patterns which aren’t!
Winter - from 1st November, December, Jan
Spring - 1st Feb, March, April. 1st Feb is St Brigid’s day and there’s a popular children’s hymn with the lyrics “Brigid brings the spring”
Summer - 1st May, June, July
Autumn - 1st August, September, October

I live fairly northern, and from mid-August I noticed fallen brown & red leaves and saw a few conkers yesterday. It feels very autumnal to me. Some of my friends have had their heating on already!

Our seasons makes a lot of sense to me with what I see around me, but maybe further south it is still very summery feeling

It feels decidedly autumnal today so yes!

This is how I see it too.

But the shops all think Winter now starts in August so what do I know 🤷‍♀️

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/01/asda-already-selling-christmas-products/

No because I go by meteorological but it’s starting to feel like it. Had the heating on last night.

This meterological autumn/winter/spring/summer nonsense is just another example of the attention seeking behaviour that has become the norm for the meteorological profession, or 'weather presenters' who are there because they smile and older men probably find them attractive. Along with exaggerated language such as 'super moons', for example.

Autumn starts with the equinox.

Meterologic calendars exist since the 18th century, so that's hardly an invention by the TV weather presenters.

The difference is that this one is based on average temperatures while the astronomical one is based on the length of the day.

Strictly, I think I think the equinox are correct but psychologically and physically it links to light and temperature. The joy of the UK is that our weather is so variable. September can be a mellow and warm Indian summer or chilly wet and windy. Here in Surrey it feels autumnal and nippy but I am only just back from Southern France.

The chestnut tree is looking crispy but no conkers have fallen. There are masses of apples but small and more berries and hips than I can recall seeing before. The Holly is swamped with berries.

I hope to be wrong but I suspect it will be a very hard winter.

If you say autumn doesn’t start until 21st September, then winter doesn’t start until 21 December, which makes no sense at all. If you want to divide up the year into four equal sections then clearly starting on 1 September etc makes more sense. But I prefer thinking of it in terms of the weather and the natural world, so the start of spring in Edinburgh is not the same as in London.

Personally I like thinking in subdivisions so September is its own season as a halfway house between summer and autumn, and autumn proper starts when the leaves on the trees start to change colour. And for example there’s a distinct season in February when the weather is still wintry but the crocuses and mini-daffodils have started to come out.

It's started, I can feel it in the air.

For me it started on the August Cross Quarter back in August, and will end on the November Cross Quarter in early November.