TOLEDO, Ohio — September has arrived, and with it comes the official start of meteorological fall. While the calendar says autumn doesn’t begin until the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22, meteorologists mark the seasons a little differently.

Meteorological seasons are based on the calendar months, making it easier to compare weather and climate data from year to year. Instead of shifting dates tied to the Earth’s tilt and orbit, meteorologists divide the seasons neatly into three-month blocks:

Spring : March, April, May

Summer : June, July, August

Fall : September, October, November

Winter : December, January, February

This method helps with record-keeping. For example, if you want to compare how warm one summer was to another, it makes more sense to group June through August rather

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