Guiding Questions: Climate Notes
Section 14.1 what is Climate?
1. Define climatology.
The study of the earth’s climate and the factors
that affect the past, present, and future climatic
changes.
2. What factors does climate include in addition to
average weather conditions?
Factors include…Temperature, precipitation,
wind, and other weather variables.
3. Give two examples of how climatic data can be
used.
Climatic data can be used to indicate the
warmest and coldest temperature recorded in an
area and it can be used to compare the climate
of different areas.
4. Why must we exercise caution when using
normals to predict weather?
Why must exercise caution when using normal
because weather conditions on any given day
might differ from normals.
5. What factors cause climate?
The factors that cause climate include…Latitude,
Topographic Effects, and Air masses.
6. Why are coastal areas cooler in the summer than
inland areas?
Coastal areas are cooler in the summer because
of the colder air masses from the ocean.
7. Describe the relationship between temperature
and altitude.
The lower the altitude is the warmer it will be.
The higher the altitude is the colder it will be.
8. Figure 14-3 depicts what effect of orographic
lifting that we discussed last Friday? (HINT:
return to those notes!)
The windward side will get all of the weather
and will have all of the vegetation will the
Leeward side gets almost no Weather from the
windward side therefore very little vegetation
will grow.
Section 14.2 Climate Classification
1. Name the system used to classify climates. What
factors does it consider?
The system used to classify climates is called the
Koeppen classification system. It considers tropical
climates, Dry climates, Mild climates, continental
climates, and polar climates.
List the six main climate types. tropical climates, Dry
climates, Mild climates, continental climates, polar
climates and microclimates.
2.
3. What climate type do we live in? List its
characteristics.
We live in the continental climate. It’s characteristics
include…Warm summer climates, cool summer
climates, and subarctic climates.
4. What is a microclimate? Give an example.
A localized climate that differs from the main regional
climate.
5. What is the heat island effect and where does it
occur? The heat island effect is when there is a
large concentration of concrete structures in one
general area causing the temperature to raise.