Length of the Seasons

[fabio012]

So is there any information on the differing length of the seasons in Westeros.Like what the usual length is , the shortest ones, and the longest of them being how long. I know the last summer wa 10 years and the following autumn was around a year or so, Which seems pretty short after 10 years.

[Free Northman Reborn]

It seems typically you are looking at about 2-4 years.

Anything longer than that is out of the ordinary.

10 years is probably the extreme upper end, and probably very rare.

[fabio012]

All right that seems to be around what I was thinking.

[Dr. Pepper]

I think the best insight we get about the length of a typical season comes from Tyrion. He tells Jeor he's lived through eight or nine winters. He's about 24 when the series starts. If the seasons are roughly even in duration, it seems they would usually last about a year.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

From what i remember Long summer=long winter too. so maybe Autumn/spring is always comparativly short.

[Lost Melnibonean]

"You are a young man, Tyrion," Mormont said. "How many winters have you seen?"

He shrugged. "Eight, nine. I misremember."

"And all of them short."

"As you say, my lord." He had been born in the dead of winter, a terrible cruel one that the maesters said had lasted near three years, but Tyrion's earliest memories were of spring.

The Wiki says Tyrion was born in 274 and the conversation above likely occurs in 298. The current summer was nine years long at the time. That means it began in 289. So there were eight summers between 274 and 289. 15÷8=1.8. So the annual cycle was 1.8 years.

[mindchap]

"You are a young man, Tyrion," Mormont said. "How many winters have you seen?"

He shrugged. "Eight, nine. I misremember."

"And all of them short."

"As you say, my lord." He had been born in the dead of winter, a terrible cruel one that the maesters said had lasted near three years, but Tyrion's earliest memories were of spring.

The Wiki says Tyrion was born in 274 and the conversation above likely occurs in 298. The current summer was nine years long at the time. That means it began in 289. So there were eight summers between 274 and 289. 15÷8=1.8. So the annual cycle was 1.8 years.

It does make you wonder though, if maybe that wasn't completely hashed out when the book was released. I mean if the average isn't but 1.8 years and a hundred years ago Dunk's Ser Arlan tells him that the winters have been getting longer and colder since the last dragon died then they couldn't have been more than a year long at a time. Maybe I'm just putting too much thought into it. :)

[Lost Melnibonean]

It does make you wonder though, if maybe that wasn't completely hashed out when the book was released. I mean if the average isn't but 1.8 years and a hundred years ago Dunk's Ser Arlan tells him that the winters have been getting longer and colder since the last dragon died then they couldn't have been more than a year long at a time. Maybe I'm just putting too much thought into it. :)

Game was published in 96. Clash and THK were published just 2 years later.

[John Suburbs]

I've also wondered if there is any guidance on what the season was in the great events of the story: RR, Summerhall, DoD, that kind of thing. It might not matter much in the end, but does winter/summer/spring/fall have anything to do with people's motivations? Do episodes of violence tend to lead into winter as people get anxious? or in spring when they are working off their stir-craziness?

And it also seems to me that winter would only be a dreadful thing in the northern parts of the known world. Wouldn't places like Dorne be more afraid of summer when waters dry up and the heat becomes deadly?