Olclops t1_izcl5o8 wrote on December 8, 2022 at 2:46 AM

A simplified but still true answer:

For most locations on the planet, temperature change is largely driven by the heat differential between the closest pole and the tropics/equator. The tropics always gets a lot of sunlight. In the summer (in the northern hemisphere) the closest pole gets a lot of sunlight too. So there's not a huge differential to trigger wind/shifting temperature in the areas in between.

In the winter, the north pole gets almost no sunlight and the equator still gets lots. So the differential is much higher. Which means there's lots of wind activity and disequilibrium, leading to more temperature change in between.

brettscharff t1_izd99i2 wrote on December 8, 2022 at 6:28 AM

Actually, the tropics are a typically cloudy area. If you look at a world weather map, you will almost always find super cloudy areas there around the equator. Take a city like Lima, Peru for example. Barely any rain, but always cloudy and on the equator. So while the solar radiation is high, and humidity is high, sunshine is low and so is precipitation. This leads to low diurnal temperature variation.