Asparna i mars

Det är fortfarande vinter men nu när vi börjar närma oss vårvintern är dagarna i alla fall ljusa. Här uppe i och intill Arktis har vi minst 5 olika årstider på svenska (höst, vinter, vårvinter, vår och sommar). Jag säger minst 5 eftersom sommaren i praktiken delas in i 3 olika sommarårstider: försommar, högsommar och sensommar. På samiska språk skiljer man på 8 årstider vilka i princip motsvarar de 7 nordsvenska årstiderna plus ”höstvinter”. På finska finns det flera ord som verkar motsvara vårvinter (kevättalvi, lopputalvi, varhaiskevät) men jag är osäker på hur man i praktiken brukar dela upp året i norra Finland idag.

Idag snöade det kraftigt. Asparna gör fortfarande inget märkbart. De väntar som de flesta andra på våren. Fast några av asparna verkar ha försvunnit sedan förra månaden.

It is still winter but now that we are approaching the season known up here in northern Sweden as spring-winter at least it is actually daylight outside during the day. Up here in the Arctic and near-Arctic we have at least 5 distinct seasons in Swedish (höst=autumn/fall, vinter=winter, vårvinter=spring-winter, vår=spring and sommar=summer). I say at least because in practice summer is divided into 3 distinct summer seasons: försommar=pre-summer, högsommar=middle of summer and sensommar=late summer. Saami languages have 8 distinct seasons which basically correspond to the 7 North Swedish seasons plus ”autumn-winter”. In Finnish there are several words that seem to correspond to the Swedish word vårvinter (kevättalvi, lopputalvi, varhaiskevät) but I’m not sure how people in Northern Finland nowadays divide the year into seasons in practice.

Today it is snowing heavily. The aspens are still not doing anything noticeable. Like almost everyone else they are waiting for spring to arrive. But some of the aspens seem to have disappeared since last month.

Fotot är taget den 9 mars 2019.

Im following a treeKolla även in andra trädföljare på The Squirrelbasket (internationellt).

6 reaktioner till “Asparna i mars”

  1. Erika, I was curious about there being less trees, so came back this morning and have just compared this post with your February post, there are a lot less trees, how sad, the lonely tree centre front without the other 2 trees, in February’s post the house/cabin far back is just visable, now it is clearly visible, I wonder, who, what, why?
    on the subject of seasons, here on Lewis we sometimes feel we only have 2 seasons, winter and spring, it rarely gets warm enough to properly call any time summer, and the milder temperatures from of May to July quickly drop to the gales and storms August to April, not too cold but very, very wet and very, very strong winds, Frances

      1. ah, yes, the grounds around the college in Stornoway has a lot of tall trees planted over 100 years ago and in some storms several or many are blown down, Frances

  2. Now that is interesting! … because we also need more than four seasons. I would add winter-spring which starts soon, with the equinox. It’s very different from spring, which arrives in early May. We also need winter-fall, starting in November and giving way to winter by the time of the solstice. But I don’t think I can convince anyone to go with this system.

    1. Well, why not try? Every new trend has to start somewhere…

      The 7 or 8 seasons system is not an official system that you can actually learn in a class anywhere. It’s an old traditional system that we fall back on because the official systems are either practically unusable in everyday life or make no sense in the real world.

      The calender system where winter is December, January and February, spring is March, April and May, summer is June, July and August and autumn is September, October and November is used in school rymes and songs to teach children the names of the months, but for many of the months it makes no sense at all in terms of what is actually going on outdoors in different parts of the country.

      The meteorological system where winter is when the average day (=24h) temperature has been 0°C or less for at least 5 days in a row, spring is when the average day temperature has been between 0°C and +10°C for 7 days in a row, summer is when the average day temperature has been above +10°C for 5 days in a row and autumn is when the average day temperature has been between 0°C and +10°C for 5 days in a row seems to be the official season system used in Sweden. If winter doesn’t actually happen then autumn by the current rules turns into spring on February 15th. This system is great scientifically and has allowed scientists to track how the beginning, end and length of the seasons change due to e.g. climate change. And following the arrival of especially spring and summer on the meteorological map (https://www.smhi.se/vadret/vadret-i-sverige/arstidskarta) where they are displayed like the front of an advancing army is a popular national pastime that is reported in newspapers and on national TV. But this system requires advanced measuring equipment and processing of large amounts of data, so it is not a practical option for ordinary people in everyday life.

      So in everyday life we ignore the official 4 season system and stick with the good old traditional way of thinking.

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