Dear Tom,
Much is made of the length of daylight at the poles during the change of seasons. What happens at the equator?
Henri Lodewyck, Claredon Hills, Ill.
Dear Henri,
In essence, the answer to your question is absolutely nothing. The amount of daylight remains constant, around 12 hours year-round, for any location on the equator. That is why the temperature in tropics remains fairly constant throughout the year. Residents of northern latitudes who are used to late summer sunsets are often dismayed to find a much earlier onset of darkness when they travel south in the summer. Over the course of a year the amount of daylight at any location on the globe is the same, the difference is in how it is received. It arrives in equal daily doses at the equator and in six-month long blocks at the poles, with widely varying doses at in-between latitudes depending upon the time of year.
———-
Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
