Why does it get colder after the winter equinox, and warmer after the summer equinox?

Question

Shouldn't there be a correlation between the amount of daylight and temperature? For instance, wouldn't one expect the longest day of the year to be the warmest, and the shortest day of the year the coldest?

Answer 1

This effect is caused by lag time to heat or cool the atmosphere.

Answer 2

You noted a interesting feature, the discrepency between "meteorlogical" winter and the astronomical "shortest day". The "winter" involves the coldest 90 days of the year based on past records, and usually goes from Dec 1 to March 1. The "coldest day" occurs in late January. There is a "lag time" for the earth to respond to the shorter days, which causes this effect. Another strange event is that there are 3 different day events, the earliest sunset, the latest sunrise, and the shortest day. The earliest sunset occurs just about on the shortest day, but the latest sunrise occurs about 2 weeks later. Blame our elliptical orbit for that.

Answer 3

All the equinox means is that the amount of daylight hours and nighttime hours are the same. Temperature depends on the angle of sunlight. The closer the angle is to 90 degrees with the surface, the higher the temperature will be. In the Northern hemisphere, we receive the most direct incoming solar radiation during the months of July and August, and so those are the hottest months

Answer 4

you're right the longest day should be the warmest, but we have green house gases in the atmosphere (CO2, methane, and water vapor) that absorb insolation. when insolation is absorbed it doesnt automatically go down to earth's surface. the insolation keeps on being absorbed by the green house gases in our atmosphere which then is reflected on earth's surface after it is finished absorbing, which happens like a month later, so the truth is that june 21st, the summer equinox, is not the warmest day, the warmer days happen in july and august.

Answer 5

In winter, it takes a month or so for the heat stored in the deeper layers of the earth's surface and the upper layers of water to conduct itself to the surface and dissipate. In the summer, it takes a similar amount of time to top off the earth's heat storage.

Answer 6

Because it takes time to heat up something or cool off something. During the days also, its warmer around 4pm...

Answer 7

That is nature for you.