Transcript Weather and Climate

Weather and Climate
Weather vs. Climate
• Weather – The daily condition of the
atmosphere which includes temperature
and precipitation
• Precipitation: Moisture that falls from the
sky. Forms include: rain, snow, sleet and
hail
• What terms would you use to describe the
weather today?
• Climate: Averaged weather. Measured
over an extended period of time (usually
30 years)
• “Climate is what you expect, weather is
what you get.”
• How would you describe our climate?
Earth Sun Relationship
• The ultimate source of the earth’s climate
is the sun.
• Earth’s rotation (when the earth spins on
its axis) Rotation creates day and night.
• The Earth’s revolution (one complete orbit
around the sun) creates seasons.
Can you identify 1-6?
Which line are the
sun's rays shining on
directly?
Which hemisphere is having
summer?
How do you know?
What day does this diagram represent?
Now the earth is on the other
side of the sun. How much
time has past?
What season is it in the northern
hemisphere?
in the southern hemisphere?
If the sun's rays are shining
directly on the tropic of cancer,
what day is it?
Climate Factors: LACEMOPS
• Latitude:
– Most important
– Farther from the equator, the colder and
drier it becomes
– Direct rays are always in the tropics.
• Air masses:
Cold Air
City
Warm Air
• What would Mountains to the North of a
city do?
• Continentality
– Water moderates climate (longer to heat and
cool than land)
City B
City A
• Elevation
– It gets colder as you go up a mountain
– Formula = Temperature decreases 3.5°F
for every 1000 feet increase in elevation
• Problem: It is 75° at the base of a 10,000
ft mountain. What is the temperature at
the top of the mountain?
?
75°
10,000 ft
• Mountain Barriers:
Mountains can stop
storms and air masses. They are also
responsible for the orographic effect.
• Ocean Currents:
Cold Currents are dry,
warm currents are wet.
• Prevailing Winds
• Storms:
Where polar winds meet
Westerlies there are storms. When hot air
masses and cold air masses collide-there
are storms.
• Cyclonic storms (hurricanes, typhoons)
Climate Regions
• Climate regions are typically classified by
temperature and precipitation
• Wladimir Koppen developed a system in the
1900s based on 5 broad climate regions
– tropical
– dry
– moderate
– continental
– polar
What do you think the climate is like in each of these
climate regions?
Guess the Climate
• I live by the beach. The temperature is hot in the
summers and cool in the winters. Most summer
days, I try to hit up the beach, I do, however,
have to worry about hurricanes starting in the
summer. I live in a _________________ climate.
Guess the Climate
• I live in a lush environment, which is good
because the tall trees provide shades. I do
not own any winter clothes. Every time I
leave my house I am sure to take my
umbrella. I live in a ______________
climate.
Guess the Climate
• I live in an extreme climate. I stay inside
most of the day, as it is too hot to do
much. At night, I typically wear a jacket as
it can get cold. I never have to worry
about rain. I live in a _____________
climate.
Guess the Climate
• My wardrobe is pretty one dimensional. I own
long sleeves and coats. I even wear them in
the summer!! There are very few plants due to
the extreme temperature and lack of rain. I
live in a _______________ climate.
Guess the Climate
• I love where I live. In the summer, I can
go swimming in the lake and in the winter I
can go ice skating on the same lake.
Everything is green in the summer due to
the extra precipitation we get in the
summer months. I live in a
______________ climate.
World Climate Regions
• Tropical
– Tropical Wet
– Tropical Wet and
Dry
• Dry
– Arid
– Semiarid
•Moderate
Mediterranean
Humid Subtropical
Marine West Coast
•Continental
Humid Continental
Subarctic
•Polar
Tundra
Ice Cap