QUESTION:
How can Chile be so hot and Antarctica be so cold when they are 
so close together? 

        From Alex, Wines Elementary School
        Ann Arbor, Michigan
        

ANSWER from Steven Downey, Doctoral Student, University of Illinois
            Wed, 19 Feb 1997 12:16:56 -0500

Dear Alex,

Chile is an unusually long country (over 3,800 miles) with a wide
geographic and weather make-up.  In its northern region, Chile has a desert
climate to which you are referring.  However, its southern region is cool
and damp and encounters to some degree the same pattern of low sun
light/long nights in the winter and long days in the summer experienced in
Antarctica.


Thanks for your question!
Steven