- Here in the Midwest, we experience all the things you might think about when you think about winter, colder temperatures, gray days, and even that fluffy white stuff that people seem to really enjoy or really dislike.

When you put all of these things together, you are talking about the weather and other natural happenings that create winter.

Let's take a closer look at how we get into the sometimes white wonderland situation in the first place and uncover some of the wonders of winter weather.

We are in the Midwest, which is in the United States and is located in the Northern Hemisphere.

We are going to pretend that this tennis ball is the Earth and the lamp is the Sun.

My tennis ball is divided into two parts, just like the equator divides the Earth.

The Northern Hemisphere is black, and the Southern Hemisphere is bright green.

As the Earth makes its way around the Sun, it takes 365 days to go all the way around.

It is tilted.

Depending on the angle that the Earth is tilted and where you live, this affects the amount of sunlight you get and the temperature at certain times of the year.

When you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you are tilted away from the Sun during the winter months, December, January, and February, and I am modeling that now.

The first official day of winter is called the winter solstice, and it occurs anywhere from December 20th through 23rd, but most winter solstices happen on December 21st or 22nd in our hemisphere.

On the solstice, we experience the shortest amount of daylight we will have all year.

If we go back to our model, this is because the Earth travels in an ellipse around the Sun.

And remember, our planet is tilted as it travels.

On winter solstice, the Earth has reached the opposite side of its orbit and will now start back around the other half of the orbit.

This makes our days get gradually longer and longer with more sunlight each day until the summer solstice occurs in June.

The summer solstice date can change too.

The summer solstice can happen between June 20th and June 22nd, but most happen on June 21st.

This is the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

But back to winter.

Being tilted away from the Sun also means the days are shorter with less hours of sunlight per day.

Less sunlight is the reason that the temperature is colder in the wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere.

If we move our ball to the other side of the model and keep it at the same angle, we will see that now the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun and the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun.

What season is it in the Northern Hemisphere now?

You're right, it's summer.

Now that you know more about why winter is happening outside, make sure you get out and enjoy it in person and see things happening for yourself.

Winter will be gone before you know it.

Hatch the fun before it melts away.

Seriously, stop watching this.

Go outside.

Bye.