6/21 is the longest day of the yr and the sun is the closest to the northern hemis, then why isn't the hottest

Question

If June 21 is the longest day of the year and the sun is the closest to the northern hemisphere, then why is not the hottest part of the year. Auguest is usually much hotter?

Answer 1

The day-to-day temperature at any given location on the planet is affected by many things, and the amount of sunlight is only one of them. Other things include the local wind currents and the temperatures of the oceans as determined by ocean currents.

To give a small example, the sun is highest in the sky at noon, and yet that may not be the hottest time of the day. After noon, the sun continues to heat the earth and it gets hotter throughout the afternoon, so it may be 2 or 3:00 before the temperature reaches its peak.

The same with summer ... the midpoint of the summer (the summer solstice) is hot, but the sun continues to warm the earth and the oceans through out the rest of the summer, so things will continue to get hotter through July and August.

Great question!

Answer 2

The length of the day and the temperature have nothing to do with each other. Yes, June 21st is Summer Solstice. which is the longest day of the year. And, Summer Solstice marks the first day of summer. Naturally, it will get hotter as the summer progresses. While the daylight remains with us, the sun is less intense in the morning and late evening due to its position in the sky. Heat does not build and collect with the hours in a day, (like money in a savings account) because the sun is always rotating across the sky and temperature rises and falls.

And yes, July and August are usually the hottest months of the year, depending on your location.

Answer 3

The sun has more of a general, synoptic or global scale impact on the temperature. What affects the daily temperature does include the sun, but it also includes warm air advection and cold air advection. advection is the horizontal transport of heat. For example, a low pressure system could be coming through the United States on 6/21. If you are at the back end of the system, you will most likely be getting some cold air advection from the north. This would lead to a cold front coming through your area and colling things off, therefore preventing 6/21 from being the hottest day of the year.

Even if there wasn't a cold front, it wouldn't likely be the warmest day because there is a gradual warming process of the entire U.S. over time. The warming doesn't happen all at once.

Answer 4

The length of the day and the temperature have nothing to do with each other. Yes, June 21st is Summer Solstice. which is the longest day of the year. And, Summer Solstice marks the first day of summer. Naturally, it will get hotter as the summer progresses. While the daylight remains with us, the sun is less intense in the morning and late evening due to its position in the sky. Heat does not build and collect with the hours in a day, (like money in a savings account) because the sun is always rotating across the sky and temperature rises and falls.

Answer 5

There is a certain part of the year in which the amount of heat gained during the day (on average) is more than is lost at night. As long as that remains true, the days will tend to get warmer. Consequently, in the northern hemisphere, the month that is warmest will occur some time after the first day of summer. Which month is warmest depends on location. For some locations the warmest month is July, for some August, and for a few September.

Answer 6

The northern hemisphere is actually not closest to the sun on June 21st, but it is most directly tilted towards the sun on that date.

In general, June 21st is the day with the longest and most intense sunlight--however, because the land and, especially, the ocean absorbs a LOT of heat, it takes a couple of more months to heat up. This is also why the coldest months are a couple of months AFTER December 21st, because it takes the earth a couple of months to cool down.

Answer 7

the bible is a god inspired compilation of books that were written to get a point across through many cultures and times. it is brilliantly successful at that. it has explained things in a way that has made sense to people from ancient times to people living in the computer age. things that have been ridiculed about the bible have slowly over the years been proven to be accurate, or at the worst possible. i don't believe that the bible ever was meant to be a 100% technically accurate representation of everything that happened. by saying the sun stopped for a day, it may have stopped, may have been an eclipse, may have been the earth stopped, may have been some annomalty that was most easily explained by saying, "the sun stopped". this isn't a cop out, i just think thinks where described in a way that would transend time, knowledge, and culture.

Answer 8

It depends what latitude your located. If your around 55 degrees latitude then it won't be very hot because the sun's rays are stretched, therefore less heat.. Another reason to this is that the earth takes time to warm up.. The hottest days usually begin to occur in July. Like I said it depends what latitude your located, the further north, the more cooler it will be.

Answer 9

None of these people are right.

It's due to a phenomena called "thermal lag." It's caused by the specific heat of land and especially water. By August both have warmed significantly. The warmed land and water give off significantly more long-wave radiation at night after being warmed all summer by short-wave radiation during the day. Therefore, night time temperatures in late summer are higher causing day time temperatures to also be higher.

Answer 10

I recall learning something in Earth Science that states that the closer (the Sun's) rays are, the less intense they are. Something about the wavelength (it's been a few years.) Basically, the length of rays and the intensity of rays have an indirect relationship.