Can someone just walk me through how it might be summer in Australia at the moment.
I feel like I understand the premise but I’m amazed I have only discovered this recently.
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The solstice (December 21 for 2022) is the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere and the summer solstice for the southern hemisphere.
The earth is on a bit of a tilt. Right now, it’s tilted so the south part is angled towards the sun, and the north part is angled away from the sun. This means countries in the southern hemisphere, like Australia, are getting more sunlight, for a greater part of the day than countries in the northern hemisphere. Hence, it’s summer in the south and winter in the north.
As the year progresses, earth will move around the sun and in six months time, the north will be angled towards the sun and the south will be angled away.
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Can I offer you [a visualisation](https://youtu.be/WgHmqv_-UbQ) in this trying time.
I’d like to add some info about seasons. You’re right that it’s winter where you are (US?) and summer where I am (Australia). Today in Melbourne it’s sunny and 74°F (we measure it in Celsius, 23.5°C). It’s nice, but not really classic Aussie summer. What gives?
Indigenous people have lived in Australia for at least 60,000 years. Indigenous people here have a deep, spiritual connection to the land. Communities developed their own seasons, based on observations about their region.
Here in Melbourne, on the land of the Wurundjeri people, the current season is Gunyang, or kangaroo apple. There’s changeable thundery weather, lots of goannas, and longer days and shorter nights. Classic Australian hot weather starts in Biderap, or dry season. We’ll have hot, dry weather, low rain, long tussock grass, and the Southern Cross will be high in the sky.
So you’re right that it’s winter near you and summer here. It’s also Gunyang here! The Earth’s tilt plays a major part in seasons. Local environment is important too.
Right now if you live north of the equator you are experiencing winter.
Days are growing shorter and night are rowing longer. In fact next Wednesday will be the shortest day and of the year, before days are going to grow longer again.
At the same time in the southern hemisphere the opposite is happening. and December 21st will be he longest day of the year if you live in a place like Australia.
IF you are in the north the sun is up in the sky for shorter amount of times right now and it doesn’t rise as high in the sky.
If you go up far enough north it might have stopped rising at all.
Meanwhile in the south the sun will be up for longer. in Antarctica the sun doesn’t set at all right now.
This is because the earth is round. The world is a sphere and it rotates on an axis once a day. However the axis it rotates on is slightly tilted in respect to the sun.
Over the course of the year this tilt means that part of the globe is tilted away from the sun and the other half tilted towards it.
Right now the north is tilted away from the sun and the south of the globe is tilted towards it.
Half a year from now when the earth has traveled halfway around the sun, the tilt will still be in the same direction, but then the earth will be on the other side of the sun.
The north will be tilted towards the sun and the south away from it.
This is how we get seasons.
Additional fun fact:
The orbit of the earth around the sun is not quite circular.
This means earth is at one point closer to the sun than at others.
You might think that Earth is closest to the sun when it is warmest outside, but if you live in the northern hemisphere that is not true.
The planet will be at its closest to the sun on January 4th. It was the farthest away from the sun on the 4th of July this year.
So if you live in the north it is coldest outside when the sun is the closest. Which is really unexpected.
The season’s are caused by the Earth being tilted around it’s axis [like this](https://images.theconversation.com/files/438275/original/file-20211217-23072-g37bxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2). When one hemisphere of the Earth is tilted towards the sun, it gets more sunlight and has more daylight during a day, and thus is warmer and has . This is summer. When that hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it gets less direct sunlight and has less daylight during a day, which means its colder.
The northern and southern hemispheres are opposite each other, so when one is tilted towards the sun, the other *must, as a consequence,* be tilted away. Right now, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, which makes it winter in the northern hemisphere. This means that the southern hemisphere *has to* be tilted towards the sun, making it summer in the southern hemisphere.
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