WSET.com - ABC13Earth, Sun, and the Heat Wave by Lyndsay Tapases

As we are in the midst of an extreme heat wave across much of the Northeast, I stumbled upon an interesting fact yesterday: Tuesday, July 6 was the day the Earth was at its farthest distance from the sun that it gets during the entire year! I thought this was pretty ironic considering the fact that several major cities across the Northeast set record high temperatures yesterday.

This point in the Earth's orbit, when it is the furthest away from the sun, is known as "Aphelion". At this distance, the Earth is 94.5 million miles away from the sun. On the contrary, "Perihelion", in early January, is the point at which Earth is the closest to the sun, about 91.4 million miles. The reason this has no effect on our temperatures is because it is the tilt of the Earth on its axis in relation to the sun, not the distance from the sun itself, which determines the seasons of our planet.

And so, on July 6, 2010, the day the Earth was furthest away from the sun, many cities set new record-high temperatures. Keeping in mind that the heat-wave is not yet over, and today is sure to bring another round of records, here are some record highs from yesterday:

All 3 reporting stations in New York City set record high temperatures, including Central Park (103), LA Guardia Airport (103) and JFK International Airport (101).

Baltimore, MD reached 105

Williamsburg, VA reached 106

Philadelphia, PA reached 102

Trenton, NJ reached 104

Wilmington, DE reached 103

Windsor Locks, CT set an all-time high record at 102 

And locally: -Blacksburg, VA reached 94 (Previous: 92 in 1999)

Bluefield, VA reached 92 (Previous: 89 in 1999)

Lynchburg, VA tied the old record of 98 set in 1999

Remember that a Heat Wave is defined as a series of consecutive days (with a minimum of three) that the temperature reaches 90 or above. So through the remainder of the week, residents from New England to the Mid-Atlantic will endure the rest of the heat wave of 2010, one that will surely be a memorable one.