The image below (apparently from "physicalgeography.net" is somewhat instructive: Notice that even in the middle of summer, India (at about 30 °N) still gets slightly more sun than the Britain (at 60 °N). Thats because although the days are longer in Britain, the sun is lower in the sky and so it's heat is spread out over a wider area. But the North Pole gets even more sun than either Britain or India in June, and the equator gets substantially less. So there is something to explain. The reason is thermal inertia. [![enter image description here][1]][1] [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/9CSGe.png Imagine pushing a heavy ball. It can take some time for it to begin to move quickly because it has inertia. Similarly it takes time for the ground and water to heat up when the sun shines upon them. India gets much more sun in winter, and so the ground and water remains warm. When summer comes, it heats up further and ends up much hotter than Britain. In Britain there is very little sun in winter, and the ground and water cools down (and freezes) Then even when the sun comes in summer it takes time to warm up. By the time the ground and water have warmed up, the sun is already starting to weaken. And so the temperature never rises as much as it can in India. There are lots of details and local effects (the gulf stream in Britain, and the monsoon in India are significant) but the basic reason that India is hotter *in summer* is that it gets more sun *in winter*! [Pidwirny, M. (2006). "Earth-Sun Relationships and Insolation". Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition.](http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6i.html)