Date Range Check in PHP

Let there be three ranges: from 1 January to 8 March, from 9 March to 17 June, and from 18 June to 31 December. Let us also have some date containing a month and a day. Let's determine which range this date falls into:

php<?php
  $date = '08-20';
  
  if ($date >= '01-01' && $date <= '03-08') {
    echo '1';
  }
  
  if ($date >= '03-09' && $date <= '06-17') {
    echo '2';
  }
  
  if ($date >= '06-18' && $date <= '12-31') {
    echo '3';
  }
?>