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Compare Opposite Season Patterns - Practice 1

Connect hemisphere tilt, daylight and sunlight angle without predicting a day's weather.

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Watch the lesson | Practice 2

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Earth's axis keeps nearly the same direction during a yearly orbit. When one hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, it has summer while the other has winter. Longer daylight and more direct sunlight generally support summer warming. Both hemispheres share nearly the same Earth-Sun distance; daily weather still varies.

Worked example

At one invented midlatitude location, a summer record has 14 daylight hours and a winter record has 10. The difference is 4 hours. This comparison is not a rule for every latitude. The hemisphere on the opposite side of the equator has the opposite seasonal pattern.

Worked example: two labeled bars show 14 daylight hours in summer and 10 in winter at one fictional midlatitude location, a difference of 4 hours. Bar widths use the same scale.
Invented example only. Use the different hours and named hemisphere in the practice record.

Northern Location Record

At orbit position P, the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun. A fictional midlatitude northern location has 15 hours of daylight. At the opposite part of the orbit, the same location has 9 daylight hours. Treat these as invented seasonal records, not measurements for a real town or a weather forecast.

Question 1 At position P, which seasonal pair fits the model?
Question 2 How many more daylight hours does the northern record at P have than the other record?
Question 3 Compared with its own winter, which combination generally supports this location's summer warming?
Question 4 Why can a single Earth-Sun distance not explain summer in the north and winter in the south at P?
Question 5 Can these records tell us the exact temperature at this location tomorrow?