Different places in the world have very different temperatures. Antarctica is the coldest place on earth and can get as cold as -89C! Death Valley in the United States is one the hottest places on Earth with temperatures as high as 54°C.

So why is the temperature so different in different places?

There is an imaginary circle called the equator that divides the Earth into two parts.

The Sun is our heat source here on Earth. The more sunlight a place gets, the hotter it will usually be. The amount of sunlight we get depends on how far we are from the equator.

Places on or near the equator, like the Sahara Desert, are very hot.

When we measure the distance between a place and the equator, we call it latitude.

When you are at a higher latitude, like the North and South Pole, you are further away from the equator. That means that the sunlight is spread over a wider area on the ground and also has to pass through more of our atmosphere, so the sunlight is not as strong. So places far from the equator are much cooler.

But latitude isn't the only thing that affects temperature.

Glasgow and Moscow, the capital of Russia, are both at the same latitude. So although they are some 1600 miles apart, they are both the same distance away from the equator.

In Glasgow, during winter, the average temperature is around 3 degrees celsius.

But in Moscow, during winter, the average temperature is much lower - minus 10 degrees celsius.

So, what makes these temperatures so different? Well, Glasgow is milder in winter because it’s nearer the sea than Moscow.

It’s only 14 miles from Glasgow to the sea, but it’s almost four hundred miles from Moscow to the nearest sea.

Land heats up and cools down much quicker than water does. Places near the sea stay warmer in winter because they are close to warmer water. On the other hand, Moscow is warmer than Glasgow in summer.

Another thing that can affect temperature in different places is he height above sea level.

Sea level is used to describe what the height of the ocean usually is. The higher you go above sea level, the lower the air pressure gets. And when the air pressure gets lower, the air has less energy and the temperature gets lower.

That’s why mountain peaks, which are high above sea level, are often cold and covered in snow.

What might affect the temperature where you live?