What is your favourite season of year? Why?

THE FALLACY OF SEASONS

There is a fallacy about the seasons of the year in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, where I live.

It is stated that in the top end of the Northern Territory, we have two seasons each year.

The wet season when we get most of our rain starts on October 1 and ends on April 30 of the following year. The dry season starts on May 1 and concludes on September 30 – obviously in the same year.

October it’s interesting because they were just the start of the wet, not a lot of rain falls. Indeed, It is the prelude to the start of the Cyclone Season, from November 1 until April 30 or the following year.

So we have in seasonal terms the “wet” and the “dry”.

The fallacy and the misnomer is calling the “dry” season the “dry” season.

In truth, the dry season should be renamed “the smoky season”. From the very first days of April, the blue sky is distorted by the smoke of various colours, some of it coming from controlled burning and other smoke coming from bushfires. The fact that we don’t live all that far from the main rubbish dump serving Darwin (Charles Bay) doesn’t help but most of the smoke is blowing in by the strong winds that prevail here during April, Mike, June, and often into July and August. It’s not uncommon for Darwin to be declared the most hazardous city In Australia because of poor air quality.

Controlled burns are necessary to help alleviate the threat of bushfires so smoke emanating from that source can be forgiven. Better than smoke them homes burning and businesses erupting in flames.

While it is somewhat cooler during the smoko season, the retention of smoke in the atmosphere often means an increase in the levels of humidity.

I sometimes wonder how disappointed tourists must be when they come up here to enjoy the clear, crisp, cool, dry air and find it to be smoke filled and asthma challenging.

Granted, there are a few good, almost idyllic days here and there: but they seem to be fewer and farther between.

So, that makes the wet season my favourite season. Yes, I like the wet season very much indeed – especially when it rains.