Time passage in the realms

[Captain Taco]

I have a simple question maybe: The books often refer to 10 years of Summer and 10 years of Winter. Can someone roughly explain this astronomically? Does that mean that one revolution (year) on Westeros is equal to 10 Earth years? How does time pass in the realms? This has been bugging me as I re-read the first 3 books in preparation for the 4th (not read yet). Thanks. Winter is coming.

 

[Wiggum]

I have no idea, but I've just been struck by a craving for tacos.

 

[Werthead]

I have a simple question maybe: The books often refer to 10 years of Summer and 10 years of Winter. Can someone roughly explain this astronomically? Does that mean that one revolution (year) on Westeros is equal to 10 Earth years? How does time pass in the realms? This has been bugging me as I re-read the first 3 books in preparation for the 4th (not read yet). Thanks. Winter is coming.

No. The explanation is magical, not scientific. The seasons were normal up until the Long Night of 8,000 years prior to the books, when the Others (presumably) knocked the seasons out of joint. I suspect that 'normal' seasons will be restored at the end of the series.

The Helliconia Trilogy by Brian W. Aldiss is an SF approach to a world where the seasons last for centuries, due to the planet being part of a binary star system.

 

[Boaz]

Wiggs, when I read your comments while seeing your avatar I laugh out loud. I just finished a bowl of Italian Fried Rice (I just invented it), yet I now desire tacos.

 

[Wiggum]

Boaz, after 34 years of walking the earth one tenet of life I find to hold true is that there are very few problems that can't be solved by a couple of Dos Equis, a chicken burrito and a Marlboro light.

While the Man in Black might not have shared an identical philosophy, I would like to think he saw the world in a similar vein.

 

[JagLover]

It may mean that you have 10 years of a 'mini ice age', where average temperatures are lower, then 10 years warmer. Rather than 10 years of continous winter.

After all, how could you store enough food to last out a winter of 10 years?

 

[Stark Winter]

Can someone roughly explain this astronomically?

According to reference.com:

Martin explicitly and more than once stated that the explanation of the Planet's climate will be revealed at the end of the series... He also stated that the explanation will be magical in nature and will not involve any sci-fi elements...