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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 2331382" data-attributes="member: 177">Not quite.&nbsp; The Earth's axis points at Polaris (with some small precession with a 10,000 year period).&nbsp; In other words, the direction the axis points is (on human timescales) pretty much fixed relative to the distant stars.&nbsp; That means the axis is not fixed with respect to the orbit.&nbsp; Sometimes the tilt is along the orbit, sometimes it isn't.&nbsp; This is normal, a consequence of conservation of angular momentum.&nbsp; Assuming, for a moment, that the planet's year is much longer than it's day...As you increase axial tilt, the arctic (and antarctic) circle moves toward the equator.&nbsp; The tropics move toward the poles.&nbsp; Eventually, when you reach a tilt of 90 degrees, the tropics are at the poles, and the arctic circle is at the equator.&nbsp; You still have equinoxes.&nbsp; But at the solstices, you get an entire hemisphere that gets and entire planetary rotation of daylight, the other an entire rotation of night.Water or not, you'll still develop storms.&nbsp; As you move into summer, you're getting more and mor of the planet in constant daylight, and more in constant darkness.&nbsp; The temperature differences will be huge.&nbsp; For gases, temperature differences mean pressure differences - and that means wind.&nbsp; Rain is a side effect for places that have water, but you don't need the water to have a windstorm.If the day is not much longer than the year, things get a bit more complicated.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 2331382, member: 177"] Not quite. The Earth's axis points at Polaris (with some small precession with a 10,000 year period). In other words, the direction the axis points is (on human timescales) pretty much fixed relative to the distant stars. That means the axis is [i]not fixed[/i] with respect to the orbit. Sometimes the tilt is along the orbit, sometimes it isn't. This is normal, a consequence of conservation of angular momentum. Assuming, for a moment, that the planet's year is much longer than it's day... As you increase axial tilt, the arctic (and antarctic) circle moves toward the equator. The tropics move toward the poles. Eventually, when you reach a tilt of 90 degrees, the tropics are at the poles, and the arctic circle is at the equator. You still have equinoxes. But at the solstices, you get an entire hemisphere that gets and entire planetary rotation of daylight, the other an entire rotation of night. Water or not, you'll still develop storms. As you move into summer, you're getting more and mor of the planet in constant daylight, and more in constant darkness. The temperature differences will be huge. For gases, temperature differences mean pressure differences - and that means wind. Rain is a side effect for places that have water, but you don't need the water to have a windstorm. If the day is not much longer than the year, things get a bit more complicated. [/QUOTE]

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