Archive Tilt of the earth question

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Sonofanump

Jan 11, 2012 5:26pm

Why is the shortest day of the year in third week of December but the historic average coldest days of the year in the third week of January? Should these not coincide? I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with magnets.

derek bomar

Posts: 3,722

Jan 11, 2012 5:28pm

I'd guess because heat travels slower than sun light? Idk.

fiction

Posts: 347

Jan 11, 2012 5:33pm

I believe it's due to the oceans, and the high specific heat capacity of water.

LJ

Posts: 16,351

Jan 11, 2012 5:42pm

because racecar

said_aouita

Posts: 8,532

Jan 11, 2012 5:43pm

I blame Obama.

Wildcat24

Posts: 261

Jan 11, 2012 6:03pm

Honestly, I would imagine it has to do with the ocean temperature and it's currents.

Jughead

Posts: 1,261

Jan 11, 2012 11:56pm

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/wfaqsson.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/faq-temperature.htm

Near the bottom of each of these articles.

Did a simple google search for 'coldest part of the year' and these are what popped up.

Terry_Tate

Posts: 7,606

Jan 12, 2012 12:36am

LJ;1048588 wrote:because racecar

Lol'd

J

jmog

Posts: 6,567

Jan 12, 2012 7:51am

fiction;1048578 wrote:I believe it's due to the oceans, and the high specific heat capacity of water.

About as simple as one can put it, the articles listed go into more detail.

Basically even though we are farther away from the sun in the winter due to the mass and heat capacity of the ground/water it takes awhile to get to the "coldest".

Think of ice, even though you put the water into the freezer at 1:00 pm, the bigger the "cup" of water the longer it takes before it is frozen.