Climate Factors
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Last time we ran thru the general circulation that states where high/low pressures live and tells which way the winds blow
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Now we will look see that A LOT goes in to determining what the weather may do!! A whole lot!
Need to define: Specific Heat
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The specific heat is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius.
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It controls the rate of which objects heat up and cool off
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An object with a high specific heat requires more energy than an object with low specific heat in order to heat up.
Water heats and cools slower than land
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Think of it like mass: higher specific heat, harder to push over
Controls of Temperatures
- All things that control cloud cover, rain/max/min temps, air pollution etc.
1. Latitude
2. Elevation
3. Continentiality
4. Ocean currents
5. Prevailing Winds
6. Semi-permanent highs/lows
1. Latitude o sun angle and length of days:
 lower latitudes: generally warmer/
 higher latitudes; colder o Look at climate summaries of areas w/ same latitude
 LA and North Carolina
 Look at precip/temps
 Richmond, VA vs SF, CA o Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (3°S) Why is this abig deal?
2. Elevation/topography o Temp gets colder as you go up o Proximity to mountains plays a huge role as well
 Upslope/downslope winds
 upslope fog
 Pollution?
 Rain shadow effect
 due to alignment of mountains and flow of air
 Greatest precipitation totals generally involve upslope flow
 Redding and Mt. Shasta
 Santa Cruz vs. San Jose. Bay area microclimates.

3. Continentiality o Proximity to water/geographical features
 Oceans/rivers/lakes
 due to specific heat differences
 Chicago: more susceptible to cold artic air
 strong fronts that DRESTICALLY alter temperature
 Lake effect snows
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4. Ocean currents o Look at current sea surface temperatures o Gulf stream, Kuroshio current, California current
 West side of continents, cold water flows from poles
 East side; warm water from equator
 Iceland: Reykjavik lat. ~65°N, nearly in the arctic circle kept warmer than it otherwise would
5. Winds a) Prevailing winds (from general circ.)
 Do they blow in from cold or warm place?
 Cool Pacific provides SF w/ cool temps in summertime, but mild in winter
 Winds off warm Gulf of Mexico bring heat and humidity b) Thermal circulations
 Due to differences in surface heating
 Causes sea breeze/land breeze
 Causes thunderstorms in FL
 Cools SJ off in summertime c) Monsoon circulation:
 Monsoon=season
 Due to Tibetan Plateau and Bay of Bengal/Indian ocean interaction
 a thermal circulation, but seasonal due to
 Winter: High elevation/cold temps create surface H over land, L over water  flow is offshore, or cold and dry
 Summer: India landmass heats up faster than water
(specific heat) causing a thermal/heat low  flow is onshore, or warm and moist
 Cherrapunji: rains 100 “ in JJA each, close to nothing in winter d) Local winds
 Foehns
 Santa Anas
 Diablos
 Sundowners
 Chinooks

6. Semi-permanent highs/lows o Effect on seasonal rain patterns o Thunderstorm development o Air Pollution effects