There are two primary ways to define the summer months in the Southern Hemisphere: meteorologically and astronomically.

While the calendar dictates that summer runs from December through February, the Southern Hemisphere summer is not a monolith. It offers a distinct progression of experiences.

In places like northern Chile or the Australian Outback, summer is not a gentle warming but an occupation. The heat doesn’t rise so much as descend—a heavy, dry blanket that flattens the air. Towns sleep from noon until four. Dogs lie motionless in any sliver of shade. Rivers shrink to cracked mud. This is summer as adversary, not ally.