I have a question that, in light of my general unfamiliarity with variance between nuschaot (and my profound unfamiliarity with meteorology and the way that seasons actually work), may not be much of a question. Sources, while welcomed, may not be strictly necessary for this one:
In all siddurim that I have ever seen, the Shemona Esrei requires a blessing for dew in the second benediction (מוריד הטל), which is to be recited between Pesach and Shemini Atzeret, and a blessing for rain in place of that one (משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם) throughout the rest of the year. In presenting these two variations, siddurim generally precede the first of those with something like בקיץ באר"י ("When it is summer in the land of Israel").
My question is as follows: in light of the fact that the population of Jews in the southern hemisphere is, relatively speaking, statistically negligible, and in light of the fact that the nuschaot that I am familiar with were actually produced for European Jews anyway, is not summer in the land of Israel exactly the same as summer "everywhere" else? Why is it necessary to make such a distinction when virtually every Jew for nearly the entirety of Jewish history lived within the same hemisphere? Why not just say, בקיץ?
