Seasons

• During part of the year the northern hemisphere of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun

• As the Earth spins on its axis, a point in the northern hemisphere spends more than 12 hours in the sunlight

• The days there are long and the nights are short, and it is summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere

• The summer is hot not only because of the extended daylight hours but also because the Sun is high in the northern hemisphere’s sky

• As a result, sunlight strikes the ground at a nearly perpendicular angle that heats the ground efficiently

• This situation reverses six months later