Hot and cold places on Earth
Geography · Key Stage 1 · The School
A line around the middle
The EQUATOR is an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth. Places right on it, or very close to it, are hot all year round. There is no winter there like the UK has.
The very top and bottom
The North Pole is right at the top of the world. The South Pole is right at the bottom. Both are covered in thick ice, all year, every year. They are the coldest places on Earth. Almost nobody lives there.
The UK sits in between
The UK is not near the equator. The UK is not near the poles either. It sits roughly in between. That is one big reason British weather is mild, with four different seasons, rather than always hot or always freezing.
Comparing three real places
Look at three real places. Kenya sits close to the equator: hot all year, every single month. Antarctica sits right at the South Pole: freezing all year, covered in ice. The UK sits between the two, much closer to the pole than to the equator, but not right at either: warm summers, cool winters, four seasons. Same planet, three very different climates, and the pattern explains all three.
Using the pattern to predict
Now try it yourself. Would Brazil, near the equator, be hot or cold? Hot. Would Greenland, near the North Pole, be hot or cold? Cold. You do not need to have visited a place to make a good first guess about its weather.