Planetary weather is influenced by such factors as axial tilt, which creates seasons, the shape of its orbit and the presence of an atmosphere. The average distance from the sun and the length of the planet's day also affect its temperatures and the kinds of weather patterns possible on its surface. With an elliptical orbit averaging 887 million miles from the sun, Saturn completes its circuit in 29 1/2 years. Days on Saturn are only 10 hours, 39 minutes long in Earth time.
A member of the Jovian gas giant group of planets, Saturn consists of a hot, rocky core surrounded by an upper layer of gases. At about 75 percent hydrogen and 25 percent helium, Saturn's atmosphere also contains small amounts of other substances such as methane and water. Saturn is surrounded by layers of clouds; the upper layer consists of ammonia ice, while the middle and lower layers contain ammonium hydrosulfate and water, respectively.
At its core, Saturn's temperature is a hot 11,700 degrees Celsius, while its upper atmosphere experiences temperatures as low as minus 250 degrees Celsius. In the ammonium sulfate clouds of its middle atmosphere, temperatures average minus 70 Celsius, while the water layer close to its surface maintains an average temperature of zero degrees Celsius, or the freezing point of water. Due to the slow motion of Saturn around the sun, its seasons last an average of seven years.
Saturn experiences violent weather events, with severe storms lasting from several months to years. These storms travel with the planet's rotation and can be tracked by telescope. Far more intense than similar events on Earth, Saturn's storms reach a diameter of thousands of miles, and generate lightning 10,000 times more powerful than that seen on Earth. Winds can reach speeds of 1,600 feet per second around Saturn's equatorial regions, where storms are frequently observed.