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???
In: 341
The same reason the hottest part of the day isn’t noon, but around 3pm. The temperature keeps rising so long as the incoming heat is higher than the outgoing heat. There hasn’t been enough time for the temperature to reach an equilibrium.
Lets say you have a pot of cold water, normally it takes 5 minutes to boil on high heat. If you heat it on high for 2 minutes, then turn the heat down to 75%, it’s still going to keep getting hotter, despite the rate of heat input going down.
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:
Similarly, the day isn’t warmest when the sun is at its peak either, it takes time for the heat to build up.
The way it was explained to me is think of the earth as a ham in the oven. The outer layer of the ham is the ozone layer. You can expose the ham to 400 degree temps but the internal temperature of the ham slowly rises over time due to the outer layers protecting it from direct exposure. Even if you start turning the temperature down (length of days shortening) it’s still enough heat to cause the internal temperature to continue to rise until it hits its peak.
Summer Solstice is like the moment you set the temperature to 425. It takes time for the oven to warm up.
Mercury gets more sun than Venus, but Venus is hotter.
It much more complicated than temperature = sunlight. it is a large contributor, but other factors come into play.
Also, the summer solstice isn’t the “first day of summer” as is commonly reported. The hottest 3 months of the year are June, July and August. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/meteorological-versus-astronomical-seasons
Say you take an old bucket, has a few small holes in it. You get a hose turn it on a little and start filling the bucket. Too much is leaking out the holes and the bucket is not filling so you turn on the hose a little harder. Now it’s filling but you want it faster so you open the hose all the way. The bucket is filling quickly now, but not quite full. You turn the hose down a little and just hold it til the bucket is full.
So the water is heat and how hard the hose is on is how long the day is. The amount of water in the bucket is how hot the day is. The bucket was not full when the hose was on all the way. But even after you turn the hose down (i.e. the days are shorter) the bucket is still filling up. It gets full a little time later. If you keep turning the hose down, soon it will be leaking out faster than it is filling (i.e. the days are cooling off).
That’s the day with the biggest “push” to raise the temperature.
But that doesn’t mean it’s the hottest.
Just like the moment you push an object the hardest isn’t always the fastest moment.
You are in a car, you got your accelerator, hard. You increase speed, but then let of the gas a bit. You still speed up… But your max speed isn’t when you got the gas hardest.
Or to go with temperature, your cooking over a fire. For a brief moment you polling it into the middle of the flame, but then pull it out to sit near the edge for an hour. Was the food hottest only in the flame itself? If you go through really fast you might not even burn yourself out earn the food much at all.
When your oven dings it merely reaches the temperature its supposed to. Then everything heats up….
Latest Answers