Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate zones
(winter does not occur in most of the tropical zone). It occurs after
autumn and before spring in each year. Winter is caused by the axis of
the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun.
Different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and
some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the
Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice
versa. In many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing
temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the Sun's
elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most
negative value (that is, the Sun is at its farthest below the horizon
as measured from the pole). The day on which this occurs has the
shortest day and the longest night, with day length increasing and
night length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice.
The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates outside the polar regions
differ from the date of the winter solstice, however, and these depend
on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year
caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest
sunrise and sunset).The English word winter comes from the
Proto-Germanic noun *wintru-, whose origin is unclear. Several
proposals exist, a commonly mentioned one connecting it to the
Proto-Indo-European root *wed- 'water' or a nasal infix variant
*wend-.
(winter does not occur in most of the tropical zone). It occurs after
autumn and before spring in each year. Winter is caused by the axis of
the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun.
Different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and
some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the
Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice
versa. In many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing
temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the Sun's
elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most
negative value (that is, the Sun is at its farthest below the horizon
as measured from the pole). The day on which this occurs has the
shortest day and the longest night, with day length increasing and
night length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice.
The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates outside the polar regions
differ from the date of the winter solstice, however, and these depend
on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year
caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest
sunrise and sunset).The English word winter comes from the
Proto-Germanic noun *wintru-, whose origin is unclear. Several
proposals exist, a commonly mentioned one connecting it to the
Proto-Indo-European root *wed- 'water' or a nasal infix variant
*wend-.
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