Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
The earth is pointed away from the sun more in December than any other month of the year including January. Therefore, why isn't December colder than January?
Richard S.
**********************************************************
Let's review what Richard is saying. He is saying the earth in the Northern Hempishere, in the winter, we are pointed away from the sun. This means it's colder here in the North and we have winter time. We have a lower sun angle. The winter solstice occurs in December, once we pass this point, our days begin to get longer (more light). We also begin the rest of our orbit around the sun and tilt more toward it each day, a tiny bit at a time until June, then we switch back again. Click the photo link on the right to see how this works.
The coldest month though for us is usually January. The colder temperatures lag the orbit by about a month. Just like in the summertime where the tilt is toward the sun in June, the warmest months are July/August usually. The earth actually takes a little time to respond to the incoming solar radiation. So the coldest month isn't when we are at max tilt away from the sun, it's the month after.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
