Temperature Max/Min Times MET

The answer to this question depends on how much energy is arriving (from the sun) and how much energy is leaving (by terrestrial radiation.) If there is more energy arriving than leaving, it will get warmer, and vice versa.

At sunrise, even though the sun has risen it is not yet giving more energy than the earth is losing so it continues to get colder until the sun has risen high enough to offset the loss of energy. Hence, the minimum temperature occurs approximately 30 minutes after sunrise.

Conversely, although the sun is at its most powerful around midday, it continues to give more energy than the earth is losing well into the afternoon so it continues to get hotter. Hence, the maximum temperature occurs sometime in the mid afternoon, after the moment of maximum insolation.