Be sure you can explain the following summary points about seasons:

• Seasons in the southern hemisphere are reversed from those in the northern hemisphere (e.g. summer for us is winter for them).
• The sun is directly overhead at noon on the equator on the first day of spring (vernal equinox) and on the first day of fall (autumnal equinox).
• The sun is directly overhead at noon on the first day of summer at a point 23.5 degrees north of the equator (called the Tropic of Cancer). On the first day of winter, the sun is directly overhead at 23.5 degrees south of the equator (called the Tropic of Capricorn). The first day of summer is also called the summer solstice while the first day of winter is called the winter solstice. The summer solstice is the "longest day" of the year while the winter solstice is the "shortest".
• At the poles, seasons are extreme: from the autumnal equinox until the vernal equinox, you cannot see the sun from the North Pole (and all areas north of the Arctic Circle). Conversely, the sun never sets from the vernal equinox until the next autumnal equinox.
• It is hotter in the summer than in the winter NOT because the earth is closer to the sun (the earth is closest to the sun in January!) but because sunlight hits the ground more directly in summer (and at a less effective slant in the winter)