diff --git a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
index 2fb25f6..2d35076 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
@@ -4316,21 +4316,26 @@ public sealed class GameWindow : IDisposable
         if (_loadedSkyDesc is null || _loadedSkyDesc.DayGroups.Count == 0)
             return;
 
-        // Retail FUN_00501990 uses the full (Year, SecondsPerDay, DayOfYear)
-        // triple — NOT a flat dayIndex. The SecondsPerDay multiplier is
-        // load-bearing: without it, adjacent years map to adjacent LCG
-        // seeds and convergence to acdream != retail would recur every
-        // year. We use the retail calendar constants from DerethDateTime.
+        // Retail FUN_00501990 seeds the LCG with
+        //   (Year_absolute, SecondsPerDay, DayOfYear)
+        // where Year_absolute = TimeOfDay+0x64 = floor(...) + baseYear
+        // (baseYear=10 for Dereth per GameTime.ZeroYear). Our port uses
+        // AbsoluteYear which includes the +10 offset; without it, our
+        // seed would differ from retail's by `10 × SecondsPerDay` and we'd
+        // pick a different DayGroup (verified mismatch in the 2026-04-23
+        // live session — acdream picked "Rainy"[17] while retail showed
+        // "Sunny" at PY 116 ColdMeet 17).
         double ticks = WorldTime.NowTicks;
-        int year = AcDream.Core.World.DerethDateTime.Year(ticks);
+        int absYear = AcDream.Core.World.DerethDateTime.AbsoluteYear(ticks);
         int dayOfYear = AcDream.Core.World.DerethDateTime.DayOfYear(ticks);
         int secondsPerDay = (int)AcDream.Core.World.DerethDateTime.DayTicks;    // 7620
 
-        // Compute a composite "dayIndex" for our own change-detection
-        // and logging (doesn't feed into the roll itself).
-        long dayIndex = (long)year * 360 + dayOfYear;
+        // Composite day key for change-detection and logging only; the
+        // LCG seed is computed inside SelectDayGroupIndex from (absYear,
+        // secondsPerDay, dayOfYear).
+        long dayIndex = (long)absYear * 360 + dayOfYear;
 
-        int idx = _loadedSkyDesc.SelectDayGroupIndex(year, secondsPerDay, dayOfYear);
+        int idx = _loadedSkyDesc.SelectDayGroupIndex(absYear, secondsPerDay, dayOfYear);
         var grp = idx >= 0 && idx < _loadedSkyDesc.DayGroups.Count
             ? _loadedSkyDesc.DayGroups[idx]
             : null;
@@ -4350,7 +4355,7 @@ public sealed class GameWindow : IDisposable
                     grp.SkyTimes.Select(s => s.Keyframe).ToList()));
 
             Console.WriteLine(
-                $"sky: PY{year} day{dayOfYear} → DayGroup[{idx}] \"{grp.Name}\" " +
+                $"sky: PY{absYear} day{dayOfYear} → DayGroup[{idx}] \"{grp.Name}\" " +
                 $"(Chance={grp.ChanceOfOccur:F2}, {grp.SkyObjects.Count} objects, " +
                 $"{grp.SkyTimes.Count} keyframes)");
         }
diff --git a/src/AcDream.Core/World/DerethDateTime.cs b/src/AcDream.Core/World/DerethDateTime.cs
index 5168e04..0ee9c2d 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.Core/World/DerethDateTime.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.Core/World/DerethDateTime.cs
@@ -57,6 +57,15 @@ public static class DerethDateTime
     /// </summary>
     public const double MaxTicks = 1_073_741_828.0;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Base/anchor year for the Portal Year calendar (retail
+    /// <c>GameTime.ZeroYear</c> = 10). Tick 0 corresponds to PY 10,
+    /// Morningthaw 1, Morntide-and-Half. Retail's <c>TimeOfDay+0x64</c>
+    /// ("absolute year") includes this offset, and <c>SkyDesc::PickCurrentDayGroup</c>
+    /// (<c>FUN_00501990</c>) feeds the absolute year into its LCG seed.
+    /// </summary>
+    public const int ZeroYear = 10;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The 16 named hour slots (r12 §1.2). Each one is half a Derethian
     /// hour; the "-and-Half" variants are the second half.
@@ -178,13 +187,11 @@ public static class DerethDateTime
     }
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// Absolute year since tick-0 (PY 0, Snowreap 1, Morntide-and-Half).
-    /// Matches retail's <c>TimeOfDay + 0x64</c> field which is
-    /// <c>floor((worldTime + base) / secsPerYear) + baseYear</c>. For
-    /// acdream's purposes we treat ZeroYear=0 since only the RELATIVE
-    /// year is needed for deterministic day-group rolling (retail and
-    /// acdream agree as long as both apply the same derivation to the
-    /// server's PortalYearTicks).
+    /// Year offset from tick-0 (number of Derethian years elapsed since
+    /// the PY <see cref="ZeroYear"/> anchor). Use for time-delta math.
+    /// For calendar display and for the retail
+    /// <c>SkyDesc::PickCurrentDayGroup</c> LCG seed, use
+    /// <see cref="AbsoluteYear"/> which adds the <c>ZeroYear</c> base.
     /// </summary>
     public static int Year(double ticks)
     {
@@ -192,6 +199,17 @@ public static class DerethDateTime
         return (int)(ticks / YearTicks);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Absolute Portal Year (<see cref="ZeroYear"/> + relative year).
+    /// Matches retail's <c>TimeOfDay + 0x64</c> field
+    /// (<c>FUN_005a7510:5300</c>:
+    /// <c>floor((worldTime+base)/secsPerYear) + baseYear</c>). This is
+    /// the value the retail DayGroup picker (<c>FUN_00501990</c>) feeds
+    /// into its LCG seed, so acdream must match for identical weather
+    /// picks vs retail.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static int AbsoluteYear(double ticks) => Year(ticks) + ZeroYear;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Day index within the current Derethian year in [0, 359] (360 days
     /// per year = 12 months × 30). Matches retail's <c>TimeOfDay + 0x68</c>
diff --git a/src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs b/src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs
index e8084b9..fde70fc 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs
@@ -235,10 +235,10 @@ public sealed class LoadedSkyDesc
     /// </summary>
     public DayGroupData? ActiveDayGroup(double serverTicks)
     {
-        int year = DerethDateTime.Year(serverTicks);
+        int absYear = DerethDateTime.AbsoluteYear(serverTicks);
         int dayOfYear = DerethDateTime.DayOfYear(serverTicks);
         int secondsPerDay = (int)DerethDateTime.DayTicks;    // 7620
-        int idx = SelectDayGroupIndex(year, secondsPerDay, dayOfYear);
+        int idx = SelectDayGroupIndex(absYear, secondsPerDay, dayOfYear);
         return idx < DayGroups.Count ? DayGroups[idx] : null;
     }