The Four Factors affecting the climate

Temperature
The temperature changes throughout the day. At
mid-day the temperature gets hot, the land heats up,
and air rises. In a coastal area when the air rises, it is
replaced by cool air from the ocean. This creates a
breeze. When evening comes, the ground cools and
the air over the ocean is warmer. The breeze shifts to
move towards the ocean.

Pressure
Atmospheric pressure is another important factor.
There are large masses of high and low pressure
across the Earth. There are also small changes in air
pressure that affect you locally. In the borders
between high and low pressures you will find storm
fronts or smaller changes in weather: temperature,
humidity, or cloud cover.

Cloud Cover
The number of clouds and the amount of dust and
smog affect local climates by changing the
temperature. Increased cloud cover decreases the
amount of energy hitting the Earth from the Sun. This
decrease in energy lowers temperatures. In an
extreme example, something called nuclear winter
covers the entire planet with clouds. With no sunlight

getting through, the plants begin to die.

Humidity
Humidity is a measure of the water vapor in the
surrounding air. As humidity increases, the chances
of rain also increase. You see, the air can only hold so
much water vapor before it says, "Whoa! I can't do it
anymore!" Then it needs to rain. Thunderclouds can
be created and violent storms can dump huge
amounts of water on the land.

Winds
Wind speed is that last factor we will cover. When we
talked about temperature we discussed on-shore and
off-shore winds. Sometimes these can be nice slow
breezes and other times very fast and destructive.
You may also encounter situations near the base of
mountains where changes in temperature create
winds that reach 80 miles per hour.