The earth was closest to the sun on its elliptical orbit yesterday. A bit further into the year on July 5th, the earth will be at its Aphelion, furthest from the sun all year.
Since the southern hemisphere is close to the sun at perihelion and further from the sun at aphelion, it experiences more extreme weather patterns as this change in distance means a 6.7% difference in heat intensity from the sun.
Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash
Source:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-perihelion-closest-sun-apsis-02-01-2021/