While the Sun might have seemed a little closer during this weeks record setting temperatures, the opposite is actually true.
As temps reached 103º on Friday, crushing the previous record by 5º, Earth was about 94.4 million miles (51.9 million kilometers) from the Sun. Over the next few weeks Earth's orbit will take it another 100,000 miles further from the Sun.
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A few hours after sunrise on July 6, 2026, Earth reaches aphelion, a point 94,502,962 miles (152,087,774 km) from the Sun. We've actually been adding distance from the Sun since aphelion on January 3, when Earth was 3 million miles closer and high temperature were in the mid 40s.
Less than a month later, on July 6, Earth will reach aphelion, the most distant point in its orbit, at about 152.1 million kilometers (94.5 million miles) from the Sun. By comparison, Earth was only about 147.1 million kilometers (91.4 million miles) from the Sun at perihelion in early January.
The difference between Earth’s closest and farthest distances from the Sun is about 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles), or roughly 3.3 percent. While this slightly changes the amount of solar energy reaching Earth, it is not responsible for the seasons.
Instead, the seasons are caused by Earth’s 23.4-degree axial tilt. During June, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. As a result, sunlight strikes North Carolina more directly and remains above the horizon for a much longer period each day. Around the summer solstice, Raleigh receives nearly fifteen hours of daylight, compared with less than ten hours near the winter solstice.
The combination of a higher Sun angle and longer daylight hours allows substantially more solar energy to reach the surface than during winter. This effect is far more important than the relatively small change in Earth’s distance from the Sun.
The result is a counterintuitive reality: North Carolina’s hottest season occurs while Earth is moving toward its greatest distance from the Sun. The recent heat in Raleigh and across the state is not evidence that we are closer to our star. Instead, it is a reminder that the geometry of Earth’s tilt dominates the seasonal cycle.
As temperatures climb toward summer peaks and Earth approaches aphelion, the planet will simultaneously be experiencing its most distant point from the Sun for the entire year. That apparent contradiction is one of the clearest demonstrations that seasons are governed by Earth’s tilt, not by its distance from the Sun.