{"id":5318,"date":"2022-12-26T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5318"},"modified":"2023-01-30T05:33:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T05:33:07","slug":"how-the-earths-tilt-creates-short-cold-january-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/how-the-earths-tilt-creates-short-cold-january-days\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Earth\u2019s tilt creates short, cold January days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The Sun rises in Midland, Michigan, shortly after 8a.m. on Jan. 13, 2017.\n Christian Collins\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nDeanna Hence<\/a>, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Above the equator, winter officially begins in December<\/a>. But in many areas, January is when it really takes hold. Atmospheric scientist Deanna Hence<\/a> explains the weather and climate factors that combine to produce wintry conditions at the turn of the year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

How does the Earth\u2019s orbit influence our daylight and temperatures?<\/h2>\n\n

As the Earth orbits the sun, it spins around an axis \u2013 picture a stick going through the Earth, from the North Pole to the South Pole. During the 24 hours that it takes for the Earth to rotate once around its axis, every point on its surface faces toward the Sun for part of the time and away from it for part of the time. This is what causes daily changes in sunlight and temperature. <\/p>\n\n

There are two other important factors: First, the Earth is round, although it\u2019s not a perfect sphere<\/a>. Second, its axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees relative to its path around the Sun. As a result, light falls directly on its equator but strikes the North and South poles at angles. <\/p>\n\n

When one of the poles points more toward the Sun than the other pole, that half of the planet gets more sunlight than the other half, and it\u2019s summer in that hemisphere. When that pole tilts away from the Sun, that half of the Earth gets less sunlight and it\u2019s winter there.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"Graphic<\/a>\n
\n Earth\u2019s tilt as it orbits around the Sun puts that one part of the planet more directly exposed to the Sun\u2019s rays.<\/span>\n iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Seasonal changes are the most dramatic at the poles, where the changes in light are most extreme. During the summer, a pole receives 24 hours of sunlight and the Sun never sets. In the winter, the Sun never rises at all.<\/p>\n\n

At the equator, which gets consistent direct sunlight, there\u2019s very little change in day length or temperature year-round. People who live in high and middle latitudes, closer to the poles, can have very different ideas about seasons from those who live in the tropics.<\/p>\n\n

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