Question

In its elliptical orbit around the sun, the Earth is closest to the Sun in January. Even though Earth is closest to the Sun in January, people in the Northern Hemisphere experience winter. Explain.

Answer 1

The first reason has to do with the fact that the Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, but is elliptical with the Sun being nearer one end of the ellipse. The speed of the Earth in this elliptical orbit varies from a minimum at the farthest distance to a maximum at the closest distance of the Earth to the Sun.