If I open the windows in my room, which has AC turned on and it’s cool in the summer, it will quickly become as hot as it is outside, why isn’t it happening around the globe?
In: Physics
Adding to the other explanations here: The Sunshine slants down at different angles as you go towards or away from the Equator.
So, in addition to “it’s day here/night there, and the atmosphere is mostly rotating about as fast as the surface is”, add “the Sun is shining straight down _here_ (this is always somewhere within 23 degrees of the equator, and right on it at spring/fall equinox) and shining very slanted at the Poles – never more than 23 degrees high in the sky, and half the year not at all”.
So sunshine heats the Earth up pretty unevenly, which gets transferred to the local atmosphere to affect its temperature.
Plus which, conduction (heat transfer between things touching, like pieces of atmosphere, or Earth’s surface and atmosphere touching it) and convection (heat being carried by the air or water as it moves) are local, not global, and take time to spread heat from one locale to another. Jet steams can make convection go faster, but never instantly.
–Dave, soooomewhere, oooover the raaaainbow
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