Date and Category Query

<?php $categorys = get_terms( 'category', array( 'hide_empty' => true, 'fields' => 'all' ) ); ?>
	<form class="staff-filter" method="GET" action=""><div class="col-sm-12 text-center">
        <span>Filter Posts by:</span>
          <ul class="list-inline">
           <li>
              <label>
            	<select name="category">
		  <option value="" disabled selected> Category </option>
			<?php foreach( $categorys as $category ) : ?>
		  <option value="<?php echo $category->slug; ?>">
			<?php echo $category->name; ?>
		  </option>
			<?php endforeach; ?>
		</select>
              </label>
           </li>

    	  <?php $years = $wpdb->get_col("SELECT DISTINCT YEAR(post_date) FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'post' ORDER BY post_date DESC");

		  $months = $wpdb->get_col("SELECT DISTINCT MONTHNAME(post_date) FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'post' ORDER BY post_date DESC");?>

          	<li>
              <select name="date_start">
		<option value="" disabled selected> Date </option>
			<?php foreach($months as $month) : ?>
		<option> <?php echo '<ul><li class"list-unstyled"><a href="'. site_url() .'/'.$year .'/'.date('m', strtotime($month)).'"/> ' . $month .'</a></li></ul>';?></option>
		<?php endforeach; ?>

    		<?php foreach($years as $year) : ?>
		<option><?php echo '<ul><li class"list-unstyled"><a href="'. site_url() .''.$year.'"/> ' . $year .'</a></li></ul>';?></option>
		<?php endforeach; ?>
	       </select>
            </li>
          </ul>
<!-- SUBMIT BUTTON -->
<button class="btn"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-search" aria-hidden="true"></span> Search</button>
<!-- END SUBMIT BUTTON -->
</div>
</form>

<?php

	$cat_query = array(array('relation' => 'AND'));

	if( isset( $_GET['category'] ) && $_GET['category'] ){

		$cat_area_query = array( 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'field' => 'slug', 'terms' => $_GET['category'],'operator' => 'IN', );
		$cat_query[] = $cat_area_query;
	}

	if( $cat_query && $cat_query ){
		$cat_query['relation'] = 'AND'
		;
	}

	$args = array(
			'post_type'   	 => array('post'),
			'post_status'    => 'publish',
			'tax_query'	 => $cat_query,
			'orderby'	 => 'date',
			'order' 	 => 'desc',
			'date_query' => array(
			'relation' => 'OR',
		array(
			'year'  => $getdate['year'],
			'month' => array(9, 8,7, 6, 5),
			'compare'   => '=',
		),
		),
	);
	$posts_query = new WP_Query( $args );?>

 <!-- CONTAINER -->

  <?php if( $posts_query->have_posts() ) : ?>

   <?php while( $posts_query->have_posts() ) : $posts_query->the_post(); ?>

    <div class="ms-item col-lg-6 col-md-6 col-sm-6 col-xs-12">

        <?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>

            <figure class="article-preview-image">

                <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="post-title-link"><?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?></a>

            </figure>

        <?php else : ?>

        <?php endif; ?>
         <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
        <div class="post-content white">
        <?php $category = get_the_category(); ?>
        	<span class="post-category"><?php echo $category[0]->cat_name;?></span>
            <span class="post-date"><i class="fa fa-clock-o"></i> <?php the_time('F j, Y') ?></span>
            <h2 class="post-title"><?php the_title(); ?></h2>

        <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
        </div>
   	</a>

     <?php endwhile;?>
  <?php endif;?>