Did you know that the sun is actually closer to the earth in December and farther away from the earth in July and August? The Winter Solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere in December, not because of the distance of the sun, but because the earth tilts 23.5 degrees on its axis, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, and during the Summer Solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. The converse happens in the Southern Hemisphere, their Winter Solstice begins when our Summer Solstice begins.
Here are some more fun facts about winter:
The word solstice derives its name from the combination of the Latin words “sol” for “sun” and “sistere” for “to stand still.”
The coldest temperature on the planet ever recorded was -123 degrees celsius at Vostok Station in Antarctica in 1983.
On February 11, 2011, the air temperature in Nowata, Oklahoma was -31 degrees Fahrenheit, which was colder than Anchorage Alaska, and set a record for Oklahoma for the lowest temperature ever recorded in the Sooner State.
The coldest winter on Earth occurs at the Polar Plateau in Antarctica. The annual average mean (The average temperature of the air during a given time period) temperature is -72.9° Fahrenheit.
The word “February” is derived from an ancient Roman festival of purification festival called “Februa,” which was held every February 15th.
Sunsets are normally more beautiful during the winter. Colder, drier air is more transparent than warm summer air, which allows the spectrum of light emitted by the Sun to be seen more clearly.
In the winter of 1974 in Russia, the temperature plummeted to -96 degrees Fahrenheit in Siberia making Russia the coldest country on earth at the time.
The most snow ever recorded in the U.S. in a 24-hour period was 76 inches at Silver Lake, Colorado, in 1921. Second place goes to Georgetown, Colorado, when 63 inches of snow fell December 4, 1913.
A single snowstorm can dump a whopping 39 million tons of snow.
The record for winter snowfall is held by the Mt. Baker ski area in Washington state when 1,140 inches of snow fell during the 1998–1999 winter season.
A blizzard is defined as visibility being reduced to 1/4th of a mile while the accompanying winds reach speeds of at least 35 mph. The storm also must be at least 3 hours in duration. Unless all three of these conditions are present, it is referred to as a snowstorm.
There is an annual average of 105 snow-producing storms in the United States. The average length of a storm will be between 2 and 5 days.
When melted, one inch of snow will make less than 1/10 of an inch of water.
The world record for the largest snowman was ever set in Bethel, Maine, in February 1999. The 113-foot, 7-inch snowman which came in at a gigantic 113 feet, 7 inches, broke the previous record of 96 feet and 7 inches set in Yamagata, Japan.
The fear of snow is called Chionophobia. The word is derived from the Greek words “chion,” which means “snow,” and “phobos,” which means “fear.”
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake ever recorded fell on January 28, 1887, in Fort Keogh, Montana. This gargantuan snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
