Hello there! I’m Jay, and I grew up in Wisconsin, a state in the United States. In Wisconsin, fall is a magical time when the forests turn into a rainbow of colors. Today, we’re going to talk about seasons and how they can be different depending on where you live.
Seasons are changes in nature that happen every year. In Wisconsin, we have four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each season has its own special symbol. For example, a snowflake represents winter because it’s cold and snowy. A flower stands for spring when new plants start to grow. A sun symbolizes summer because it’s hot, and a colorful leaf represents fall when the leaves change colors.
Not all places have the same kind of seasons. For example, I now live in Florida, which is much warmer than Wisconsin. In Florida, a winter day can feel like summer in Wisconsin, and it almost never snows. Even though Florida has seasons, they look different. In Florida, fall means cooler weather, but the leaves might not change colors like they do in Wisconsin.
Think about where you live. How do you know when it’s fall? Maybe you start wearing warmer clothes, or it’s finally cool enough to play outside without getting too hot. In Wisconsin, the leaves turn beautiful colors, while in Florida, we see colorful wildflowers. Some birds fly south in the fall to find warmer places. In Wisconsin, we see them leave, and in Florida, we see them arrive.
Some places on Earth don’t have the same seasons as Wisconsin or Florida. For example, the Amazon rainforest in South America stays green all year long. In Malaysia, the forest is also green throughout the year. These places don’t have big temperature changes, but they do have wet and dry seasons. In the Amazon, it rains for part of the year and is dry for the other part. Malaysia has two very rainy times called monsoon seasons.
In Senegal, a country in Africa, the Baobab trees show signs of the changing seasons. When the Baobab’s fruit grows bigger, it’s a sign that the wet season is coming.
In really cold places near the North and South Poles, the seasons are different too. There, the big change is in sunlight. During winter, it’s dark for weeks or even months. In summer, the sun stays up almost all day and night. People often say these places have two main seasons: a bright summer and a dark winter.
Every place on Earth has changes that repeat every year. We divide the year into seasons to keep track of these changes. In some places, like Wisconsin, we have winter, spring, summer, and fall based on temperature changes. In the tropics, where there are big changes in rainfall, the year is divided into wet and dry seasons. Near the poles, changes in sunlight divide the year.
Seasons follow a pattern, which helps us know what to expect next. Understanding these patterns helps us plan what to wear, how to stay safe, and how to have fun. For me, the best part of fall in Wisconsin is knowing that snowboarding season is coming next!
Thanks for joining me on this journey through the seasons. Stay curious, and see you next time!
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hey, it’s Jay! I grew up in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Fall there is beautiful; the forests turn a rainbow of autumn colors. Someone named Sawyer has a question about the fall season. Let’s give Sawyer a call now.
Hi, Sawyer! I have a question: Does any place not have fall? Great question! Have you ever seen season symbols like these before? They’re a good match for the seasons in Wisconsin. There’s a snowflake for the cold winter, a flower for spring (the warming-up season when new plants grow), a sun for the hot summer, and of course, a colorful leaf for fall (the cooling-down season when leaves change).
Seasons are based on changes in nature that repeat year after year. For example, in Wisconsin, snow falls around the same time each year. That change in weather is part of the winter season.
Now, I live in the state of Florida. You might know that Florida is warm; a winter day here can feel as warm as summer in Wisconsin, and it almost never snows in most of the state. The seasons in Florida don’t look like these symbols, but it’s not hot summer sun all year either. Florida does have seasons, including a fall season when things cool down. The changes that show it’s fall are just different from Wisconsin.
Before I go on, I’m curious if you live someplace with a fall or cooling-down season. What are some of the changes that show it’s fall where you live? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, are you ready? Maybe you know it’s fall where you live because it’s time for warmer clothes, or maybe fall is when it’s finally cool enough to play outside without getting too sweaty. Maybe you have weeks of colorful fall leaves like Wisconsin. Here in Florida, many leaves don’t change, but we do have colorful fall wildflowers. Or maybe you’ve heard that some birds travel south in the fall to spend the winter in warmer places. In Wisconsin, a fall change is seeing them leave, and in Florida, it’s seeing them arrive.
Like me, you might live someplace where these symbols don’t really match the changes each year. In fact, lots of places on Earth don’t match these symbols. Maybe you can think of some, like how about this rainforest in the Amazon? Look at how green it is; it looks pretty much like this all year. Or check out this incredible forest in the country of Malaysia; it’s green all year round too.
In Wisconsin, as the weather changes from hot to cold each year, forests go from summer green to colorful fall to bare winter branches. These forests don’t really do that because the temperature doesn’t change much in these places. Instead, there are other big changes throughout the year. For example, in the Amazon, there’s wet weather for just over half the year and dry weather the other half. It goes from wet to dry and back year after year. Malaysia also has wet and dry times of year, except it’s more like wet and wetter. There are usually two really rainy times of year called monsoon season, with less rainy seasons in between.
And look at this: these are Baobab trees during the dry season in the country of Senegal. As the Baobab’s fruit gets bigger, that’s a sign to some farmers that the wet season is on its way.
On a map of Earth, the Amazon rainforest is here in South America, here’s Senegal, and here’s Malaysia. They’re kind of in a row across Earth’s middle. This middle area is called the tropics. Places throughout the tropics have big changes in rainy and dry weather that repeat each year. Living here means planning for wet seasons and dry seasons.
You might still talk about fall or a cooling-off time, but it’s not as big a change. The seasons look different in really cold places too, like around Earth’s North and South Poles. There, a big change that divides up the year is sunlight. Winter near the poles is dark; the sun doesn’t appear in the sky for weeks or even months. It’s the opposite in summer; this is what midnight looks like. The sun stays up for most of the day and night. The temperature warms up a bit too, but the big change is all that light. Some people say that places near the poles have two major seasons: sun-filled summer and dark winter.
So in summary, every place on Earth has changes in nature that repeat year after year. To keep track of those changes, we divide the year into seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall is one way of dividing the year into seasons based on big changes in temperature, but it’s not the only way. In the tropics, where there are big changes in rainfall, you can divide the year into wet and dry seasons. Near the North and South Poles, big changes in sunlight divide up the year.
Because the changes happen again and again in the same order, the seasons make a pattern. With a pattern, you can tell what’s coming next, like how monsoon season is followed by a dry season. Understanding the pattern of seasons helps us plan ahead for what to wear, how to stay safe, and have fun. In fact, to me, the best thing about fall in Wisconsin is knowing snowboarding comes next.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Sawyer, for asking it! Now for the next episode, we reached into the question jar and picked out three questions sent in to us that we’re thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: How does a washing machine clean clothes? How is cardboard made? Or who invented the high five? So submit your vote when the video is over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
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This version removes informal language and maintains clarity while preserving the original content’s essence.
