The Earth is farthest from the sun today, so why is it so hot?

Heat records were recorded this week around the world, in North American cities including Denver, Colorado; Burlington, Vermont; and Montreal, Quebec; as well as in the cities of Europe and Russia. But here is something that could confuse you: Today, it is also the day of the aphelion, the day of the Earth's orbit farthest from the Sun. What gives?

I know that you, Gizmodo reader, are well aware of how the seasons work. But maybe someone you know thinks that the hottest part of the year is when the Earth is closest to the Sun. So, let's break it down.

The Earth moves in an ellipse around the Sun. At its farthest point, which will occur today, July 6 at 12:46 EDT (9:46 PDT), the Earth will be away from the sun at 94,000,803 miles (152,095,566 kilometers). On average, it is about 150 million kilometers from the Sun, and on January 3, 2019, it will be 91,403,554 miles (147,099,761 km) from the Sun.

This is not a huge difference, if you think about the immensity of space. Instead, the seasons are determined by the direct rays of the sun, which is determined by the tilt of the Earth.

The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees in its orbit around the Sun. This means that during the month of June and the neighboring months, the northern half of the Earth will be directed towards the Sun, and during the month of January and the surrounding months, the southern half of the Earth will be directed towards the Sun. During the months of March and September, sunlight also hits both hemispheres.

The more direct the sun's rays, the more light reaches the Earth per unit area. Remember to hold a pile of straws, where each straw is a sunbeam, and try to insert them into the glbad, the surface of the Earth. If the edge of your glbad aligns with the straws, more of them will fit only if you hold the glbad at an angle to the straws. No more straws, no more rays; more rays, more energy; more energy, more heat.

As to why the northern hemisphere is so particularly hot right now, well, it's complicated. It's summer, so you should expect it to be hot, and you should also expect random fluctuations such as sometimes it's warmer than normal and no, you can not blame a single statistical blow in the earthly heat change. Greg Porter to Washington Post explains that there is a thermal dome over much of the northern half of the Earth – a region of high pressure a few kilometers into the atmosphere compresses the city. Air, adding to the summer heat.

But you can not leave climate change out of this. As things tend to get warmer, we can expect to see oppressive heat waves like these more often. And we are doing-2015 was the hottest second year ever recorded, 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, and 2017 was the third hottest year recorded, according to the NOAA.

So, I know you're probably thinking, "Uh, I already knew that." But I promise you have colleagues, friends and relatives who think it's the hottest when the Earth is closest to the Sun. Sharing this knowledge will make you very popular at parties

Update, 11:50 EDT: Someone on Twitter has indicated another interesting factoid – the whole Earth is warmer during the aphelion. It's true that sunlight is a little less intense when the Earth is farther away from the Sun, maybe 7% less, according to an old NASA document. But there is much more land in the northern hemisphere and the land is generally warmer than water (its heat capacity is lower). Even though the Earth is closer to the Sun in January, this heat is spread over the ocean harder to heat.

Also, as pointed out McGill astronomer Kelly Lepo, I omitted another important fact: the days are longer when the axis is inclined toward the sun, more time for the Earth to receive energy from the rays and get warmer.