Why is the equator hotter the the poles?
337385
the sun directly casts it rays on the equator. the earth is tilted at a slight angle, so, that means that one of the poles are sometimes farther away than the other, but the equator always faces the sun and gets the full force
1164152
The earth rotates about its axis.  Obviously at the poles, there is no speed to the rotation at all.  At the equator, the circumference of the earth is about 25,000 miles and it rotates once per 24 hours, so the speed would have to be 25,000/24 = 1041.67 mph.  Depending on where you are between the equator and the pole, you'll get a speed of between 0 and 1041.67 mph.
798758
Seasons reasons \nUnless you live near the Earth's equator, you have no doubt noticed that the weather changes during the year: it is hotter during the Summer, colder in Winter, and somewhere in between during Spring and Fall. These are the seasons, a regular change in temperature, that repeat themselves every year, more or less regularly. \n\nWhat causes these changes? The Sun is our main source of heat, and since these changes are the same every year, it surely has something to do with the movement of the Earth around the Sun. If we get closer to a fire, we get hotter. Could it be then that the Earth gets closer to the Sun during Summer, and farther during Winter?  This idea seems at first to have some merit, until we remember that the seasons get reversed when we cross the equator: when it is Summer in the northern hemisphere, it is Winter in the southern one, and vice versa. And surely Argentina is at the same distance from the Sun as the USA! \n\nBesides, that the Earth's orbit is an ellipse, not a circle, so that at some times the Earth is closer to the Sun than at others; but this ellipse is very nearly a circle, and the relatively small differences in distance to the Sun cannot account for the changes in temperature. And to make things worse, the Earth is closer to the Sun during the northern hemisphere Winter! \n\nWhat, then, is, the cause of the seasons? \n\n\n\nIn the above animation, you can see the Earth during one full year (the animation then starts over again), as you would if you looked straight at it from the Sun. As you can see, the part of the Earth that is directly facing the sun changes with the time of the year. It is the northern half for a while, then moves south of the equator, only to move back to the north again. \n\nWhat causes this? The Earth rotates around an imaginary line passing through the poles, called the axis. This line forms an angle (called the tilt) of 23.4° with the perpendicular to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. \n\n\n\n\nAs the Earth moves around the Sun, this axis stays always pointing in the same direction. This means that, during part of the year, the northern part of the Earth will lean more directly against the sun, and during other parts the southern part will. \n\n What has this to do with temperature? Well, when the northern hemisphere is leaning away from the sun, the rays coming from it hit this part of the Earth at a smaller angle than on other parts of the world. This means that the same amount of light is distributed over a larger surface, and therefore these places receive less heat than the others. The southern hemisphere is experiencing Summer, the northern hemisphere Winter. In half a year, the situation reverses, and it is now Winter in the southern hemisphere since that part of the earth is now leaning away from the sun. \n\nThe seasons are then the result of this tilt of the Earth's axis. If the tilt of the Earth's axis was 0° there would be no difference in how the rays from the sun hit its different regions, and there would be no seasons. \n\nNot all planets have the same kind of tilt as the Earth has: Uranus, for example, has a tilt of almost 98°. Its axis, then, lies almost on the plane of its orbit, and a day there lasts about as much as one year on Uranus: about 84 Earth-years.
948640
At latitudes between 231/2 degrees north and 231/2 degrees south, the sun is directly overhead at noon twice a year. In these cases, the sun's rays shine directly down toward the surface. The radiation that reaches the atmosphere is therefore at its most intense. \n\nIn all other cases, the rays arrive at an angle to the surface and are therefore less intense. The closer a place is to the poles, the smaller the angle and therefore the less intense the radiation. Due to decreases in the intensity of radiation, average temperatures decline from the equator to the poles. Seasonal changes in solar radiation and the number of hours of sunlight also vary with latitude.
795153
in the northern hemisphere, above the equator, during winter the tilt of the earth spreads out the suns rays over a wider area, so there is less energy per square mile than in summer, that's why it's colder in winter. \n\nIt's colder up in the mountains because the air is thinner, and can hold less energy than the thicker air at lower elevations.\n\nThe earth's distance from the sun varies a bit through the year but it's not much of a factor in the temperatures.  Latitude (distance from the equator) and the seasons are the predominant reasons it's warm or cold.
388169
The answer is that it depends on where the location lies on the Earth (its latitude). The closer to the center of the Earth (the equator), the warmer it is. The closest to the ends of the Earth (the poles), the colder it is. If a location is quite close to the equator or the poles, it won't have significant differences between their seasons like other locations do.
450708
I guess it's time someone writes down a correct answer...\n\nThe earth rotate on its axis, which runs through the north and south poles.  It so happens that the earth's axis is not perfectly vertical.  Because the axis is at an angle, we spend half the year (it changes during the equinox) with the north pole (and hence the northern hemisphere) tilted towards the sun - this is summer.  We spend the other half of the year with the south pole tilted towards the sun (hence, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun) - this is the winter.  Now I will leave it up to you to think about why this should make the summer days longer than the winter days.  Try this:  grab a basketball (better yet, a globe), turn off all the lights, point a flashlight at it and spin it with the axis rotated towards the light and with the axis rotated away from the light.  Follow a single point on the top half of the ball and see if you can make sense why this point stays in the light longer when the axis is pointed towards the light versus when the axis is pointed away from the light... \n\nIt's a nice point to make that in the southern hemisphere (Australia, Chile, South Africa, etc.) the days are longer in the winter and shorter in the summer.  If you think for a moment, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out why...
132441
In December 25 the South Pole is pointed towards the sun therefore the sun elevation is high in the southern hemisphere. As New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere it experiences summer. Around December 25 the earth reaches the highest elevation in the southern hemisphere and hence this is the hottest day in New Zealand and all other parts of the southern hemisphere
456439
Air is heated & rises at the equator. The air is forced to about 30 degrees north & south of the equator at high altitude. It starts to cool at these latitudes and starts to descend. As it descends it is heated due to decreasing antitude and increasing atmospheric pressure. This causes the moisture content in the air to decrease resurlting in typically cloudless skies and little rain. This is called a 'Hadley Cell'.\n\nThese latitudes were called the horse latitudes becuase in the days of sailing ships which were often becalmed in these latitudes, sailors were forced to kill livestock on board ships to conserve water and provide food.
981719
North of the equator this is true, south of the equator it reverses (hot in winter, cold in summer). \n\nIt is the Earths tilt combined with the distance from the sun as we orbit around it.
968902
If your in the south pole, everything is going to be north of you so the equator is north of the south pole.
48692
The tilt of the planet causes uneven heating of the Earth's surface,during the summer months,the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun,causing warm weather,as the Earth orbits the sun,it maintains this tilt,until the northern hemisphere is farther,causing cold weather.Consequentialy,when the northern hemisphere is experiencing winter,the southern hemisphere is experiencing summer and vice versa.Spring and fall are the time in between these transitions.
538503
Because the air is less dense the higher the altitude, there are less molecules available to retain heat. Therefore the heat of the sun dissipates more readily.
190298
There is the factor of where the wind originated from and the rotation of the earth.  Think about it, how fast is the north pole spinning (pretty slow, it takes 24 hrs for the earth to revolve)?  At the equator, the ground spins at a very high speed, being as the ground is further from the axis of rotation.  \n\nAs an example, a high-altitude air-mass originates from near the equator and travels away from the equator. The ground is spinning slower as you move away from the equator, but the air-mass does not lose a lot of the speed it had when it was at the equator.  Thus it will be moving relative to the ground it is now above. Since the earth rotates in the eastern direction, the wind will travel from east to west (relative to the ground it is now above).  \n\nIf the wind came from a location away from the equator and moved towards the equator, it is moving slowly relative to the equator so it will appear to be travelling slower than the rotation of the ground below it.  As a result, it would move from east to west relative to the ground.\n\nThis is how phenomenon like that jet-stream work.  This effect is called the coriolis (if I spelled it right) effect.
756633
The equator get more direct sunlight for longer periods of time, whereas the polar regions get a little sunlight for six months and none for six more.
155925
Why do you think this is silly? Of course, you are quite correct, you weigh about 0.3% less at the equator than at the poles (see calculation in first reference below).\n\nAnd as has been noted above, this tiny difference, even between a place like Cape Canaveral and the equator makes a huge difference in the fuel requirements of a very heavy rocket (rotational velocities of 894 mph vs. 1038 mph, respectively). That is why all countries try to locate their launch facilities at low latitudes. \n\nThis effect was even mentioned in Jules Verne's 1866 book "From the Earth to the Moon". Verne located his launch cannon in Florida, at 28 degrees North.
678217
Well the tropopause height increases as you move towards the equator (warmer air takes up more volume).  From what i remember, the tropopause becomes very blurry in the tropics, whereas it's very defined further north.  Perhaps that's partially because lapse rates are much lower in the tropics because of the consistant heat release from moist convection.  It also may be that the statosphere doesn't warm up as quickly because there is less of a depth of ozone to the incoming sunlight due to the angle.\n\nAs for jetstreams, there are different versions.  The well known and most persistant polar jet streams that mark the boundary from "polar air" to "tropical air" doesn't reach that far south... though it is always found just below the tropopause height because of the Thermal Wind balance.  The subtropical jet is found near the same general height, but is based on weak midlevel temperature gradients, is much less continuous through the year, and is located near the edges of the tropics.\nThe only real jets you get in the tropics are due to elevation features.  As such, many are low-level jets... and none are specifically located near the tropopause... because that location would suggest significant temperature gradients... which the tropics don't have.\n\n\nI took a look at soundings, and it does appear there is at least some version of a tropopause... usually at or above 100 mb... in the tropics.  You can use this site (UWyoming) to look at soundings from around the world (change type to GIF to 10mb or skewt):\nhttp://www.weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html\n\n\nHope that helps answer your questions!  God bless,\nShane