Thing 23: A Change of Seasons (aka 'Happy Rise Season')

We often think of Summer as being the hot season and where the days are longest. And Winter as the cold season where days are shortest. But, in reality the longest day of the year is at the boundary of Spring and Summer. And the shortest day is at the boundary between Autumn and Winter. Something something seasonal lag. Anyway...

I propose a new way of dividing the year into seasons. One where the longest day is in the middle of Light season, and the shortest is in the middle of Dark season. Then the remaining seasons can be called Rise season and Fall season since the amount of daylight rises from Dark season to Light season and falls from Light season to Dark season. In this way, each season is more clearly distinct from the others, and start a half-season offset from the traditional seasons.

In picture form:

A diagram showing daylight graphed over time as a sine wave, with markers for the solstices and equinoxes, and red markings showing the proposed new seasons halfway between existing seasons.

Would you look at that? Today (Feb 3, 2026) is the start of Rise season!