Why is Earth Hotter Further From the Sun?

Today is July the 3rd. And for us humans on earth, today is the day that we're the furthest away from the sun that we’ll be all year. So why is it so warm? Where I live, it's summertime and we've just gone through our first heatwave of the year, and you'd think it would be cold when you're far away from the sun and warm when you're close to the sun. On the 3rd of January. But it's the other way around. This can all be explained by the fact the earth has a tilted axis like my head. Right now, in the summer, we're tilted towards the sun, so we're getting more heat from it. Just to give you some concrete numbers. We're getting about 7% less energy from the sun by being far away now compared to January the 3rd, when we're closer, we get 7% more. But the difference in tilt means tilting towards the sun gives about 500 percent as much energy as being tilted away. For here in London. It obviously varies depending on how high up or down in latitude you are. And obviously everything's flipped for the southern hemisphere because it's their winter at the moment, so it does kind of make sense for them. But it's interesting. This combination means that in the Northern Hemisphere we have slightly longer summers and slightly shorter winters, whereas in the southern hemisphere it's the opposite way around. They have slightly shorter summers and slightly longer winters. So in conclusion, as they always say, nobody cares how far away you are from the sun. If you've got a wonky axis.


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