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
If you compare Japan ( lots of snow and cold temps to low levels) and New Zealand ( not so much) which have similar latitudes and geography, the difference in the amount of snow is largely because of the large land mass to Japan’s north (Siberia) which keeps the air much cooler, compared to air over the ocean as the water can only get so cold. NZ has no land mass to it’s south. Japan sea is warm ( lots of evaporation ) Tasman sea is cold ( not so much)
Mountains and orographic lift is similar.
Eli5: land cold, water warm.
The Northern Hemisphere has about twice as much land as the Southern Hemisphere.
Land heats up and cools down much more quickly than water does.
During the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, when we get less sun, things cool down quickly and winter can be quite severe.
During the winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when they get less sun, things cool down more slowly so their winters are milder.
With the exception of Antarctica and the southernmost tip of South America there isn’t really any land at the latitudes necessary to have cold winters. Chile and Argentina do get quite a bit of snow.
Actually OP, [it’s the other way around](http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013EGUGA..15.8172F/abstract#:~:text=Volkwardt%2C%20Silvia-,Abstract,over%20its%20origin%20for%20centuries.).
>predominantly caused by meridional heat transport in the oceans
The oceans transport heat from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere.
London has a Latitude of 51 degrees north. Dunedin, a city of New Zealand has a lattitude of 45 degrees south. These are similar distances from the ocean, although very different micro climates. I wanted to use Otago, near Dunedin, for this example but the website I’m using to compare doesn’t have it. Altitudes are similar as well.
So while Dunedin is closer to the ocean and further form the Antarctic it is [actually comparatively colder.](https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/144811~45062/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Dunedin-and-London)
The north pole is a frozen sea surrounded by land.
The south pole is a frozen land surrounded by sea.
Land freezes easier than salt water.
More land around the pole means more freezing.
More sea around the pole means less freezing.
Water.
The Southern Hemisphere is mostly ocean.
The Northern Hemisphere is mostly land.
The oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere regulate the extremes of temperature.
Here’s an Australian perspective:
1) Tasmania, that island that’s south of our mainland, which is known everywhere else in Australia as a land of the 9-month winter, is about as far from the equator as the New York beach mecca of Southhampton. It’s not that Southampton has better climate than Hobart; it’s more that “down south”, we don’t consider a place “warm” if it gets snow on the beach.
2) If you compare the temperatures of the only major landmass south of ‘Australia’s Southampton’s’ (Antartica) with those of anywhere in the Northern hemisphere; it’s difficult to come to the conclusion that winters are milder in the north.
The answers in this thread just beg the question: Why doesn’t the land sink to the bottom of the globe?
It’s all the land in the north, or all the water in the south depending on how you look at it.
Have you experienced a winter in Antarctica?
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