Any mention of seasons on Roshar?

[potato]

I know the Weeping comes every year, but is there any indication of a polar tilt or elliptical orbit?

I haven't seen any, and (Shardworld and creative license aside) it seems odd to me.

[Veil]

There's climate variations across Roshar (e.g. the Frostlands) but I don't remember any references to actual seasons. I always assumed it was a result of highstorms. There might be seasonal variations in temperature, but the highstorms are going to cool off summer temperatures and melt any snow that falls--and there wouldn't be much variation in precipitation, either, except during the Weeping.

[Seloun]

There are seasons, but they generally last only a few weeks and they are unpredictable in length:

 

 

Kal froze, standing in an alleyway between two houses in Hearthstone. The sky was wan overhead; winter had come for a time. The Weeping was near, and highstorms were infrequent. For now, it was too cold for plants to enjoy the respite; rockbuds spent winter weeks curled up inside their shells. Most creatures hibernated, waiting for warmth to return. Fortunately, seasons generally lasted only a few weeks. Unpredictability. That was the way of the world. Only after death was there stability. So the ardents taught, at least.

 

The main exception is that the Weeping, which is probably an early spring/late winter analogue:

 

 

Kaladin hated the Weeping. It marked the end of an old year and the coming of a new one, four solid weeks of rain in a ceaseless cascade of sullen drops. Never furious, never passionate like a highstorm. Slow, steady. Like the blood of a dying year that was taking its last few shambling steps toward the cairn. While other seasons of weather came and went unpredictably, the Weeping never failed to return at the same time each year. Unfortunately.

 

It never seems to snow, so the Weeping might really be the equivalent of one of their winters, though it doesn't seem quite cold enough for that to be the case. In the first quote, the winter appears to occur immediately before the Weeping, so a spring analogue seems about right. However, it might also be the case that spring/summer/fall/winter seasons are independent of the Weeping seasons (this would make sense if the seasons are truly random; if they're just hard to predict like highstorms, it would probably make more sense to be aligned with the highstorm/Weeping patterns).

 

The seasons do seem to follow the same order as on Earth - at least, spring and summer appear to be adjacent and summer comes after spring:

 

 

The Parshendi weren’t there yet. When the scouts reported that the plateau was secure, Adolin urged Gallant across the mobile bridge. He felt warm in his Plate; the seasons, it seemed, had finally decided to inch through spring and maybe even toward summer.

[Argent]

It might be worth mentioning that snow in Jah Keved is rare, even during winters.

[WeiryWriter]

Roshar does not have an axial tilt. Its "seasons" are based off of highstorm activity.

[potato]

There are seasons, but they generally last only a few weeks and they are unpredictable in length:

 

 

The main exception is that the Weeping, which is probably an early spring/late winter analogue:

 

 

It never seems to snow, so the Weeping might really be the equivalent of one of their winters, though it doesn't seem quite cold enough for that to be the case. In the first quote, the winter appears to occur immediately before the Weeping, so a spring analogue seems about right. However, it might also be the case that spring/summer/fall/winter seasons are independent of the Weeping seasons (this would make sense if the seasons are truly random; if they're just hard to predict like highstorms, it would probably make more sense to be aligned with the highstorm/Weeping patterns).

 

The seasons do seem to follow the same order as on Earth - at least, spring and summer appear to be adjacent and summer comes after spring:

So, roughly 16 seasons per year. I'm no rocket scientist, but could that be an indication of a binary- planet sort of arrangement?

[Aether]

As Kurkistan pointed out on another Thread, though, it is of note that they do have a "concept" of seasons, even though their usage of the it has little to do with how it is "properly" used. This is likely because of Cosmere-shenanigans and yaddi-yadda.

 

EDIT: @potato, to elaborate, what they call "seasons" is not what we would recognize as such. As Weiry pointed out, Roshar has no Axial tilt, so under normal circumstances, the planet would have no "seasons" at all. However, the Highstorms have the peculiar effect of being able to manipulate the local climate at different and unpredictable times of the year. The little regularity there is are focused around long and lighter storms during the "winter", culminating in the lull in Highstorms around Lightday at the beginning of the year called "the Weeping", and short but stronger storms during the "summer", culminating in a particularly powerful one in the middle of the year.

 

EDIT 2: Found Kurkistan's post.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Aether

[potato]

As Kurkistan pointed out on another Thread, though, it is of note that they do have a "concept" of seasons, even though their usage of the it has little to do with how it is "properly" used. This is likely because of Cosmere-shenanigans and yaddi-yadda.

 

EDIT: @potato, to elaborate, what they call "seasons" is not what we would recognize as such. As Weiry pointed out, Roshar has no Axial tilt, so under normal circumstances, the planet would have no "seasons" at all. However, the Highstorms have the peculiar effect of being able to manipulate the local climate at different and unpredictable times of the year. The little regularity there is are focused around long and lighter storms during the "winter", culminating in the lull in Highstorms around Lightday at the beginning of the year called "the Weeping", and short but stronger storms during the "summer", culminating in a particularly powerful one in the middle of the year.

 

EDIT 2: Found Kurkistan's post.

Thanks. I'll have to dig into that post... well, post haste.

Side note: even with no axial tilt, there "should" be seasons. I guess my right and left brain will have to fight it out over "seasons severity altered by binary movement of bodies circling each other circling a star" or "irregularities due to this being a FANTASY series". I'm guessing binary movement will win, but I'm an idiot.