LOW LATITUDE CLIMATES
1. cT, mT, eT air masses
2. Between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
3. Equatorial trough of ITCZ, Trades to Subtropical high pressure belt
WET EQUATORIAL - Af
1. Uniform temperatures
2. Abundant year-round rain
3. Amazon lowlands, Congo Basin, East Indies
MONSOON/TRADE WINDS -Af, Am
1. Yearly temperature cycle
2. Abundant rainfall - seasonal
3. Asia, Central & West Africa, Central America
WET-DRY TROPICAL -Aw, Cwa
1. Strong temperature cycle
hottest before rainy season
2. Wet high-sun season/
dry low-sun season
3. Asia, Central India, Brazil, Indochina, Zambia
DRY TROPICAL - BWh, BSh
1. Little to no precipitation
2. High-sun: extreme heat low-sun: slightly cooler
3. No cloud cover - large temp.range
4. West Coast of S. America West Coast of South Africa
MID-LATITUDE CLIMATES
1. mT, cP, and mP air masses
2. Nearly all of this climate zone is in Northern Hemisphere reaching to 60th parallel
3. Subtropical high pressure belt (poleward), westerlies
DRY SUBTROPICAL - BWh, BWk,
MEDITERRANEAN - Csa, Csb
BSh, BSk
1. Wet winter/dry summer: movement of high pressure systems
1. Distinct/cool/cold season
2. W. coast of continents, coastal: less temperature range, inland: greater temperature range
2. low precipitation year-round
3. Warm to hot summers - cool to mild winters
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3. Large temperature range
4. Southern and Central CA, Europe near Mediterranean Sea
4. North Africa to near East, Australian Deserts,
Mojave, Patagonia and Sonoran Deserts
MOIST SUBTROPICAL - Cfa
1. Summer convection rainfall
2. Winter ppt from midlatitude cyclones
3. Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, South China
Taiwan, southeast USA (Carolinas, Georgia, et al)
© Vicki Drake
SMC – F2000
MOIST CONTINENTAL - Dfa, Dfb, Dwa, Dwb
1. Variable daily/seasonal temperatures
2. Year-round precipitation: summer: mT air mass winter: cP and cA
3. Asia: drier winter/wetter summer, N.America: wetter winter/drier summer
4. Central/eastern Europe, N. America, (east/north of Tennessee)
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MARINE WEST COAST - Cfb, Cfc
1. Prevailing Westerlies, frequent
2. cyclonic storms, mP air masses
3. polar/subtropical air mass collisions
4. Year-round precipitation: greatest in winter months
British Isles, Portugal, France, New Zealand
DRY MID LATITUDE - BWk, BSk
1. cP in winter - little precipitation
2. mT in summer - convective precipitation
3. Large temperature ranges - warm summers to very cold winters
4. Interior N. America/Eurasia exclusively West coast of Oregon, British Columbia
HIGH LATITUDE CLIMATES
1. mP, cP, mA, cA air masses, with summer mT influences
2. Northern subarctic and arctic latitudes
3. Low pressure belt with Polar/Subtropical air mass collisions
BOREAL FORESTS - Dfc, Dfc, Dwc, Dwd
1. Largest temperature range of all
climates
2. Short cool summers, very cold winters
3. Minimal precipitation: summer months
4. N. America: central/western Alaska and east Canada
(Labrador) MOIST
Eurasia and mid-western Canada: DRY
ICE SHEETS - EF
1. Source area for cA and aA (Antarctic) air masses
2. Low precipitation: SNOW
3. Severe cold enhanced by high altitude of ice sheets above oceans
4. Greenland (inland), Antarctica, Arctic Ocean
TUNDRA - ET
1. Long severe winters - short mild season
no true summer
2. Arctic coastal fringe: cP, mP. and cA air masses
3. Alaskan north slope, Hudson Bay, Greenland (fringe)
© Vicki Drake
SMC – F2000
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