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Since the winter period passes over the end of the year, which is the correct way to refer to the winter period which starts at the end of, say, this year 2023? Is it "this year's winter" or "next year's winter"?

Len
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    Winter 2023-24 is clearest. This winter means the coming one, as normally does next winter. This year's winter isn't a common way of saying it. – Stuart F Oct 31 '23 at 06:21
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    I think on average in the UK, it's colder (more "wintery") during January/February than during November/December. But when we refer to, say, the winter of 1987, we mean the one that started in 1987, even though most of its "winteriness" didn't arrive until the following year. – FumbleFingers Oct 31 '23 at 13:17
  • @FumbleFingers - but 'The Big Freeze' is the winter of 62/63 yet is called The Big Freeze of 63. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1962–1963_in_the_United_Kingdom [markdown can't parse the link properly with a - in the middle] – Tetsujin Oct 31 '23 at 16:13
  • @Tetsujin: Well, I guess that's Wikipedia for you. Or perhaps it's because the actual *freeze* was almost entirely within the early months of 1963. A usage chart for *cold winter of 196?* has '62 slightly ahead of '63. And most of those will be referring to *the same winter*, as can be inferred from the tiny showing for '61 (and nothing at all for '64). – FumbleFingers Oct 31 '23 at 18:30
  • @FumbleFingers - I'm with you, but that sticks in my head. I was alive through it, though too young to remember, & I was also in the couple of Call the Midwife episodes that were set in it - which makes the reference far fresher in my head. It's always been 63 in my head. DDG & Google also seem to favour it from autosuggestions of 'The Big Freeze of' – Tetsujin Oct 31 '23 at 18:41
  • @Tetsujin: Per this chart, the *freeze of 1963* only edged out *freeze of 1962* in 2005. I suggest that's because by 2005 the fact that Wikipedians favoured '63 was starting to be influential. In the years *immediately after* the big freeze, we nearly all referred to it as '62. – FumbleFingers Oct 31 '23 at 18:52
  • @FumbleFingers - interesting. My mum always called it 63, which will be my biggest influence, as I passed my third birthday during it, so had no real opinion of my own ;) – Tetsujin Oct 31 '23 at 18:54
  • @Tetsujin: As Wikipedia says, A cold easterly set in on 22 December* as an anticyclone formed over Scandinavia, drawing cold continental winds from Russia...* People hardly thought much of a few cold days while we were mostly on holiday, playing with sledges and snowballs. It only became "exceptional" on Jan 2nd and following, as people struggled through snowdrifts to get to work (school in my case, and presumably yours too! :) – FumbleFingers Oct 31 '23 at 19:02
  • @FumbleFingers - I can't argue, really [nor wish to]. As to your estimate of my intellectual prowess at the age of three… I have to admit that school didn't enter into my life for another year & a half. 4½ really was the earliest they'd take anyone back then. There were no pre-school nurseries in my area [that I'm aware of]. That's a later service for working mothers. Mine was expected to stay home & look after me & my sister ;) – Tetsujin Oct 31 '23 at 19:10

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