Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-96.58.140.224-20140723205101/@comment-31292614-20170402015418

What I used to do as I started watching it in October of 2016 from season 1 (currently on season 13), I looked at the technology advances. Example, Meredith had a iphone 4/5, so you could inference that it 2013/2014/2015. You can also look at the fashion changes, etc.

Most likely the season's timeline is pretty close with the real world time, but just doesn't mention/explain it.