Why aren Southern Hemisphere summers warmer than Northern Hemisphere summers?
The Earth is closer to the Sun by about 3 million miles (5 million km) in January than in July. This would seem to make the summer temperatures hotter in the Southern Hemisphere (and the winters colder). However, this is only true of localized regions. Most of the Southern hemisphere is water, which does not increase in temperature as much as land. The maritime climates of the Southern hemisphere are often cooler during their summer than summer in the continental areas of the Northern hemisphere.
