Scientists pinpoint locations where Earth's seasons are mysteriously out-of-sync [View all]

Source: USA Today

Sept. 22, 2025, 6:01 a.m. ET


In a few specific and mysterious parts of the world, a short journey can be like traveling through time – and scientists aren't sure what's going on.

The phenomenon is called seasonal asynchrony, and a new study finds these perplexing locations appear in tropical mountains of countries like Costa Rica as well as places like California that have Mediterranean climates.

In these locations, the seasons are out of sync, with plants blooming at different times. A study published in Nature in August found that satellite images could identify regions where short distances separated locations that appeared to be in two different seasons.

While researchers found examples all over the world, they don't have a unifying explanation. "There's this sort of complex kind of dance of rhythms happening across the landscape in somewhere like California," said study author Drew Terasaki Hart. "In the tropics, we know much less."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/22/earths-seasons-appear-mysteriously-out-of-sync/85975693007/