Name:
Coastal and Continental Temperature Ranges
Introduction: There are large variations in average monthly temperatures among cities located at the same
latitude. This suggests that factors besides the angle and duration of isolation affect the rate heating and cooling
of any given location.
Objective: You will graph the average monthly temperatures of costal and inland continental regions and
interpret the range in temperatures.
Vocabulary:
Temperature rangeAverage daily temperature
Average monthly temperature
Procedure:
Graph the average monthly temperatures for the four cities given on the data chart; make a LINE graph. Plot all
four curves in a line graph, using the same set of axis. Use a different color for each city and include a key.
Questions:
1. Which city has the greatest yearly temperature range?
Explain why.
2. How could you tell from the graph that these cities are all in the Northern Hemisphere? You must use
the GRAPH, not the city names or locations!
3. Compare the heating and cooling rates for New York and Bismark. Calculate the rate of heating from
January to July for both New York and Bismark.
4. What is the yearly temperature range in Los Angeles?
5. What is the yearly temperature range for Phoenix?
6. If Los Angeles and Phoenix are at the same latitude, why is there such a difference in the temperature
curves?
7. How does the lack of atmosphere moisture in California’s Mohave Desert cause a large daily
temperature range?
8. Where would you want to live (of the 4 cities) and why?
9. For each of the four cities, which month was the warmest? Which month was coldest?
Conclusion:
Describe the difference in the annual temperature range between costal regions and inland locations.
Average Monthly Temperatures (degrees in F)
City
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
New York, 32
N.Y
33
41
53
62
71
77
75
68
56
47
36
Bismarck,
N.D
Los
Angeles,
CA
Phoenix,
AZ
7
15
26
43
55
64
70
69
57
46
29
15
57
59
60
62
65
69
74
75
73
69
63
58
52
56
61
68
77
87
92
90
85
73
61
55
Average Monthly Temperatures (degrees in F)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Annual
Temp.
Range
Blank