Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Definition:
The four periods of the year that begin with either an equinox or a solstice, yet happen at different times in the world and have different climates.
An equinox is where there is equal night and day all over the Earth.
A solstice is when the Sun is the farthest away from the equator.
This image shows the positions of the Earth when Australia experiences its solstices and equinoxes.
Earth’s axis is not vertical, but instead tilts at an angle of 22.35o whilst orbiting the Sun. This means that during a certain part of the year, either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere leans more towards the sun.
The hemisphere that is the closest to the Sun gets more concentrated sunlight and heat. Because of this proximity to the Sun, this hemisphere experiences summer.
The hemisphere tilting away from the Sun receives less sunlight and heat. In other words, sunlight falls and spreads over a larger area and becomes less concentrated. As a result, we have lower temperatures and winter.
This image shows the positioning of the Northern Hemisphere when it experiences different seasons. The seasons that the Southern Hemisphere experiences it the opposite to the Northern Hemisphere's, because its position is the opposite.
Where are we?
On Earth there are 2 hemispheres; Northern and Southern. We live in the lovely country of Australia, which can be found in the Southern Hemisphere. When Earth turns on its axis, Australia is exposed to the Sun at different parts of the year.
In the months of December to February, the Sun is seen to be more vertical in the sky at noon, when compared to the Sun at noon in the months of June to August. This is why we get more hours of sunlight in summer, why the position of the Sun in the sky when it rises changes slightly each day and why there are short shadows in summer and longer shadows at exactly the same time of day in winter.
This image compares the Sun's position and heat radiation in summer and winter
In spring, the weather tends to get warmer. This is because it is the ‘build-up’ season to our hot summers. Also, animals that have been hibernating (like bats) wake up and become active. Spring is also the time when many animals give birth to their young.
When animals hibernate, they actually don't go to sleep! Instead, they slow down or halt their body's functions. It is because of this animals look like they're "sleeping".
In autumn, the weather gets cooler, as it’s the transition from summer to winter. Many animals begin to prepare for their hibernation in winter. Also, leaves of deciduous trees turn violent shades of red, yellow or brown before falling off.
Deciduous trees lose their leaves because the chemical fluids that flow through their leaves are highly likely to freeze in the cold weather. Also, because of the trees’ chemical receptors, they can register changes in the day’s length as it shortens.
When this happens, the leaves undergo chemical and physical changes, which make their colours change. When winter is near, the trees rid their leaves so they can altogether save energy.
Where is it?
London is located in south-east England, and is the country's capital city.
Because England is located in the Northern Hemisphere, our seasons are the opposite of their seasons. So, if we in Melbourne are in spring right now (which we are), then the Brits in London would be in autumn.
Winter in London is extremely cold and happens from December to February. Daylight is usually 8 to 9 hours long, where the average temperatures range from 6.6oC to 7.4oC. This cold weather tends to lead to frost and/or ice in the mornings and also snow.
Christmas is also spent in the cold weather. Surprisingly, it doesn't snow very often in the UK. However, people still want to know if they’ll get a ‘White Christmas’. The British definition, which is used by the UK Meteorological Office when they say if it’ll be a White Christmas or not, is that a single snow flake has been seen falling in the 24 hours of Christmas Day! Unfortunately, this rarely happens. Statistics show that they get an official White Christmas about every 4 or 5 years.
In contrast, British summers can get fairly warm, with the average temperatures ranging from 18.1oC- 20.6oC.
When the temperature reaches around 30oC, which is very rarely, the British populace makes the most of it. People swim at the beach, hang out at parks and generally celebrate in the hot temperature. Also, the amount of daylight received is increased from 8 hours to 17 hours from June to August.
Let's compare London and Melbourne's summers!
Britain faced its hottest summer in 1976. From June 23rd to July 7th, the temperature topped 32oC. It was during this period that UK’s highest temperature record was set; 35.9o in early July.
The hottest Australian summer was the Angry Summer in 2012-2013. For a week, the entire country’s temperature averaged above 390C. In Victoria, the temperature stayed above 41oC for 4 nights! This hot weather began in September 2012 and lasted until January 2013. Also, the hottest temperature, in Australia, was 45.7oC. Fires broke out across the country. One in Victoria’s Grampians killed 1 person, destroyed a property and ruined over 52,000 hectares of land.
This infrographic provides us with some alarming facts about the devastating Angry Summer.
When you compare our summers to British summers, you can instantly see that our summers A LOT hotter than theirs. In terms of mathematics, the temperatures of the hottest Australian and British summers have a range of 9.8oC. Even though this range is small, there is another factor that proves that British summers are colder than ours. This is due to the fact that this city is closer to a polar ice cap than we are. The distance between England and the Arctic is 4288km, whereas the distance from Australia to Antarctica is 7246km. These distances explain why the range is slightly different and why our seasons are generally warmer than London's.
[Alphabetically listed]