Climate Regions

1. Climate Regions

3. Tropical Tropical Rain Forest Climate: • hot and wet through the year. Usually found on or near the equator in the low latitudes. Averages a high of 80° year round. Yearly rainfall is about 80 inches.

5. Tropical Tropical Savanna Climate: • a dry season in winter and wet season in summer. Temperatures remain high. These areas are found mainly in Africa and South America.

7. Arid Arid(Desert): • dry areas with sparse plant life. Yearly rainfall is seldom more than 10 inches per year. Most often very hot during the day and cool at night. • Can be found in any Latitude. • Oasis:a small area of lush vegetation found in these regions.

9. Arid Steppe Climate (Semiarid): • dry areas often bordering on deserts. Annual rainfall is about 10-20 inches a year. There are usually short grasses, but few trees. • Can be found in any Latitude.

11. Temperate or Middle Latitudes Marine West Coast • generally found along western coastlines between 30° and 60° latitude. There are cool summers and mild, damp winters.

13. Temperate • found generally in coastal lands between 30° and 40° Latitude. They have rainy, mild winters, and hot, dry summers. Mediterranean:

15. Temperate Humid Subtropical: • located at mid latitudes on the southern part of a continent. There is high humidity. Rain falls through the summer. Winters are usually short and mild.

17. Temperate Humid Continental: • influenced by landmass instead of wind. There are generally long, snowy winters and short cool summers. These are located only in the NorthernHemisphere and away from coastal areas.

19. HighLatitude Subarctic: • bitterly cold winters. Relatively high temperatures may occasionally occur in the summer. Temperatures may vary (greatly) as much as 150° • Example: Fairbanks, AK. summer high of 90°, winter low of -60° below

21. HighLatitude Tundra: • North of the subarctic zone • Land has large areas of permafrost -ground is always frozen • The tundra region averages less rainfall than most deserts.

23. HighLatitude Ice Cap: • monthly temperatures average below freezing. Snow and ice are sometimes 2 miles thick. Found mainly in Antarctica and the interior of Greenland.

25. Highlands • Because elevation also affects climate, the higher the altitude, the cooler the air. Some areas around the Equator, because of elevation, are covered in snow year round. • Caused by mountains, can be found in any Latitude.

26. WEATHER vs. CLIMATE • What’s the difference? • Climate is a long term predictable patter. Weather is the current atmospheric condition WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

27. Hurricanes vs. Typhoons vs. Cyclones • All are Cyclonic Storms – form in warm waters and have strong winds and floodingform a cylindrical funnel • Their main difference is in their location • Hurricanes affect the Americas, and Typhoon affect east Asia, Cyclones areas in the Indian Ocean • Did you know storms in the southern Hemisphere rotate differently than those in the North

28. Hurricanes vs. Typhoons vs. Cycloneshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSx_gisp24w

29. Tornadoes • A form of Cyclonic Storm that only occurs in the Middle Latitudes • Formed when cold (polar) dry air and warm moist wind fronts mix • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjjwPQRVbWk

30. WORLD MAP OF TORNADOES

31. El Niño Exercise