![\\"logo\\"](\\"/img/logo-dpa-factchecking.svg\\"/) *About ![\\"IFCN](\\"/img/ifcn-certificate.png\\"/) ![\\"EFCSN](\\"/img/efcsn- certificate.png\\"/) ## Unseasonably warm weather # Earth's tilted axis determines seasons 9.1.2023, 17:56 (CET) New Year's Eve was unusually warm this year. The cause for this is complex, but it has nothing to do with the distance from the earth to the sun. The turn of the year from 2022 to 2023 was the warmest since measurements began in 1901. The reason for this must be according to a widely shared post on Facebook are sought in astronomy. The earth is tilted at the beginning of January closest to the sun. Although this sounds logical at first glance, it is no explanation for the unusually warm temperatures. ## Judgement The distance from the Earth to the Sun explains the unusually high winter temperatures not this year, because it is an annual phenomenon. Analysis weather records over a longer period show that climate change is real is. ## Facts It is absolutely correct that the Earth is closest to the sun at the beginning of January. The Earth's orbit around the sun describes an ellipse, not a circle. Bee In a circle, the distance to the center point is always the same, in the case of an ellipse this is not the case. As a result, the Earth is not always the same distance from the sun off. Johannes Kepler discovered this already in the seventeenth century. Perihelion is the annual moment when the distance between Earth and... the sun is smallest, about 147,100,000 km. The Belgian weatherman Frank Deboosere explains that this will fall on January 4 in 2023. When the perihelion takes place, shifts very slowly. In 1246 it occurred simultaneously with the winter solstice on December 21 and in four thousand years it will coincide with the spring equinox on March 21. So perihelion has been happening in winter for hundreds of years, at least one hundred years in early January. The warmest New Year since measurements are possible cannot be explained by a phenomenon that happens every year. Perihelion and the seasons It seems illogical that winter is when the Earth is closest stands near the sun. However, like the article shared on Facebook itself states, this distance does not determine the seasons. The whole earth stands up a certain distance from the sun, but it is not everywhere on Earth the same season at the same time. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere means summer in the southern hemisphere. What determines the seasons? That is the tilt of the axis of rotation of the Earth. This is not perpendicular to the Earth's orbit around the sun makes. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere has more rights at certain times sunlight, at other times the southern hemisphere. That amount of right sunlight determines the seasons, not the distance from the sun. That also takes care of it ensure that the sun does not set at the North and South Poles in summer does not rise in winter. This is nicely explained visually in this video. The Northern Hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight in the months when the Earth is farthest from the sun. That's when it's warmest there. If the earth is closest to the earth, so strangely enough it is the coldest. This only in the northern hemisphere. Warm end of the year What explains the unusually warm New Year's Eve? Both Frank Deboosere and the KNMI points to climate change as the culprit. The reason for this is that the warm end of the year 2022 fits into a trend. 2022 was a record year, but unfortunately no exception. Becoming more and more common daily records broken. According to Deboosere, exceptional weather is much more common in the last two decades. That's a clear sign that the climate is improving change is. (State of play: 09.01.2023) ## Left Facebook post (archived) On the perihelion (archived) Ellipse and circle (archived) Johannes Kepler (archived) Shift perihelion (archived) Perihelion through the years (archived) Article KNMI (archived) Italian article (archived) ESA on the seasons (archived) Tilt of Earth's rotation axis (archived) Youtube video (archived, archived video) Article VRT (archived) Frank Deboosere about daily records (archived) ### About dpa fact checks This fact check was written in the context of the Third Party Fact Checking program from Facebook/Meta. More information about this initiative can be found here. Explanation from Facebook/Meta about dealing with accounts that contain incorrect information distribution can be found here. You can send substantive comments or comments to factcheck- netherlands@dpa.com with a link to the relevant Facebook post. Please to use the correct templates for this. You will find guidelines for objections here. powered by dpa-newslab | Imprint | Privacy | About:
It is unusually warm this New Year because the Earth is closest to the sun