To clarify, I’m asking why when it is winter IN the southern hemisphere, why is it milder than winters in the northern.
Not asking why are the seasons reversed.
In: 2765
It has more to do with the amount of land that’s positioned between the tropics and antarctic. Water acts as a heat sick, so higher percentage of water to land means temps stay more consistent and also the lower amount of land in general mean there are fewer places far enough south to be as cold as places far north are.
Look at a globe and you’ll see there’s far more land mass in the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere, especially in the extreme latitudes. Consequently almost nobody lives in the far South and even those few who do are close to the ocean where temperatures are moderated by the water.
Weather depends on a lot of factors including things like the geography of the area, ocean currents, and prevailing winds. But something to consider is that there is just a lot more land that is more north than there is south (that people live on).
For example think of Winnipeg, Canada. Pretty cold in the winter, right? Well almost all of the UK is north of Winnipeg which is 49 degrees North. However if we look at land which is 49 degrees South in the southern hemisphere we find… some of Argentina and the Falkland Islands? Auckland Islands of New Zealand are that far south but not much else.
It is? Do you compare land at the same latitude?
Most land in the southern hemisphere is closer to the equator than most land in the southern hemisphere. Look at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_map#/media/File:Winkel_triple_projection_SW.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_map#/media/File:Winkel_triple_projection_SW.jpg) and use horizontal latitude line for comparisons. The southern part of Australia and Africa have the same attitude as the land area around the Mediterranean Sea.
The southern tip of South America has the same latitude as Denmark. Northern Scandinavia overlaps the Antarctic.
That there is less land also results in the distance to the ocean being lower. You have higher temperature change far away from the ocean just beside it.
The average winter temperature of the northern hemisphere is colder than the southern hemisphere. This is because 2/3 of the land is in the northern hemisphere and only 1/3 is in the southern hemisphere. Land change temperature more than oceans. So the northern hemisphere gets colder on average in the winter and warmer in th summer compared to the southern hemisphere.
There’s just more land in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the land in the Southern Hemisphere is close to the equator. There are places that are far from the equator that do get cold and snowy winters, like Patagonia in Argentina or the South Island of New Zealand… and (obviously) Antarctica.
Sydney, Australia is only at 33°S. The equivalent latitude in the Northern Hemisphere splits the US states of Arkansas and Louisiana. Those places don’t get cold and snowy winters either.