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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Temps Returning to Normal - "Perihelion" Reached tomorrow!

As the showers begin to taper off this evening a cold front will be moving in. 

Although the holiday weekend began with temperatures surging 10 to 15 degrees above normal across the region, tomorrow, temperatures in our area will return to near normal levels (High 30's - Low 20's) and perhaps a few degreees below average in certain areas.

It will freeze overnight so "black ice" is something we should all be concerned with.

It is interesting to note that while we are well into our winter season, our earth will be at "perihelion", or our closest position to the sun, tomorrow, January 3rd. 


The Earth reaches its closest point to the sun during the first week of January. So why is it so cold this time of year?
First of all, it is warm in the Southern Hemisphere now. It all has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis. During winter the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. That means solar energy is coming in on a slant and imparts less heat per unit area. This effect is most pronounced at mid and northern latitudes where normal temperatures are lowest in January.

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