This graphic shows the Earth's postition on its orbit around the sun on June 1st. In 20 days we will arrive at the summer's solstice point: the longest day on the northern, the shortest on the southern hemisphere. But as you can see we are still in spring (autumn on the southern hemisphere) until then. Isn't it amazing that it takes the energy 500s from ths sun to us but weeks for our planet to warm up / cool off after it has arrived: The warmest period occurs in the time of diminishing energy input, the coldest during increasing energy input. This explains why the extremes (summer / winter) aren't short peaks but smooth transitions.
