Winter solstice solar terms

Early winter: the first month of winter, that is, October of the lunar calendar; Midwinter: the second month of winter, that is, November of the lunar calendar; Late winter: the third month of winter, that is, December of the lunar calendar.

Winter is one of the four seasons. The change of seasons throughout the year is a continuous process, and it is also a process of yin and yang transformation, from one to two, from quantitative change to qualitative change. In this gradual process, beginning of spring, Changxia, beginning of autumn and beginning of winter, also known as "Sili", are the beginning of the season.

Traditionally, China regards the 24 solar terms "beginning of winter" as beginning of winter. In winter, life is closed and everything enters a state of recuperation.

The commonly used methods of season division mainly include "solar terms method" and "temperature method". The winter divided by solar terms method starts from "beginning of winter" and ends before the next "beginning of spring". According to the temperature method, winter begins when the daily average temperature is lower than 10℃ for five consecutive days, and ends when the daily average temperature rises above 10℃ for five consecutive days.

In many areas, winter means silence and desolation. When the cold current strikes, living things will reduce their life activities, many plants will shed leaves, animals will choose to hibernate, and some are called hibernation. Migratory birds will fly to warmer places for the winter.

In northern China, snow is an important symbol of winter. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in northern China and its vicinity, the snow in winter is often not as big as the light snow solar terms. The main reason is that the light snow solar term is ahead, the temperature is high, the total amount of water vapor in the air is larger than that of heavy snow solar term, and the possibility of heavy snow is greater.