eli5: why isn’t the summer Solstice the hottest day of the year?

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It is the longest day, so it gets the most sunshine, why is it hotter latter in the summer when the days are getting shorter again???

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I haven’t seen this answer posted yet but I think what you’re getting at is why, in the Northern Hemisphere, the days get hotter after the day in which we have the maximum amount of sunlight. However, the amount of incoming solar radiation is much higher than the amount of outgoing solar radiation (i.e. heat) for several weeks after the summer solstic,, it isn’t until late-August/September that the days are short enough where the amount of heat taken in during the sunlight hours is less than the amount of heat released during the nighttime.

The below graphic has to do with latitude and not time, but I think the visual here demonstrates the same idea if you think of the X axis as length of day with the mid-point being the summer solstice:

View post on imgur.com

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