Today January 4, 2023, at 11:17 AM EST the Earth was at its closest point to the sun that it will be in all of 2023! Of course close is not a hop, skip and a jump away. The sun is still nearly 91.4 million miles away from the earth. The word "Perihelion" is derived from the Greek word "peri" meaning close and " helios" meaning sun. In the northern hemisphere during winter, the majority of the sun's energy falls south of the equator because of the earth's tilted axis. That means the southern hemisphere is absorbing more energy and direct sunlight and vice versa in the summertime. That is why it is currently winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere. I know a lot of us in Maryland are wondering if the current temperature situation has anything to do with this phenomena. The short answer is no. While temperatures have been nearly 20 degrees above average, it has nothing to do with the tilt of the earth. In approximately six months,
we'll experience aphelion when the sun is farthest away from earth.
That's your weather tidbit of the day!
