'It is all about the tilt of the Earth's axis. Many people believe that the temperature changes because the Earth is closer to the sun in summer and farther from the sun in winter. In fact, the Earth is farthest from the sun in July and is closest to the sun in January!

During the summer, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a steep angle. The light does not spread out as much, thus increasing the amount of energy hitting any given spot. Also, the long daylight hours allow the Earth plenty of time to reach warm temperatures.

During the winter, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a shallow angle. These rays are more spread out, which minimizes the amount of energy that hits any given spot. Also, the long nights and short days prevent the Earth from warming up. Thus, we have winter!'

It is all about the tilt of the Earth's axis. Many people believe that the temperature changes because the Earth is closer to the sun in summer and farther from the sun in winter. In fact, the Earth is farthest from the sun in July and is closest to the sun in January! The Earth's movement around the sun causes the seasons, but it does not affect the temperatures during the seasons. During the summer, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a steep angle. The light does not spread out as much, thus increasing the amount of energy hitting any given spot. Also, the long daylight hours allow the Earth plenty of time to reach warm temperatures. During the winter, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a shallow angle. These rays are more spread out, which minimizes the amount of energy that hits any given spot. Also, the long nights and short days prevent the Earth from warming up. Thus, we have winter!

Fun Science: Weather : Why is it warm in the... by VideojugFamilyEducation

During winter the hemisphere in which we are located is tilted away from Sun. So the sun rays have to travel longer distance before reaching us and, therefore, they lose some of the heat on the way and we feel cold, while during summer reverse is the case and so we feel hot.

The problem is that the Earth's orbit around the is only slightly elliptical. The difference between its closest point to the Sun and its most distant is little more than a 3 percent.

This translates to a difference of a few degrees Celsius on average. That actually is quite a bit. But the temperature difference between summer and winter is a lot more than that.

Interestingly, the northern hemisphere is closest to the Sun (perihelion) during winter. This means that the northern hemisphere gets slightly warmer winters (though it doesn't feel like it to me) than the southern hemisphere, while our friends to the South get slightly warmer summers.

During winter the hemisphere in which we are located is tilted away from Sun. So the sun rays have to travel longer distance before reaching us and, therefore, they lose some of the heat on the way and we feel cold, while during summer reverse is the case and so we feel hot.