Guiding Questions: Climate Notes

Section 14.1 What is Climate?

1.Define climatology. The study of Earths
climate and the factors that affect past,
present, and future climatic changes.
2.What factors does climate include in
addition to average weather conditions?
Annual variations of temperature,
precipitation, wind, and other weather
variables.
3.Give two examples of how climatic data
can be used. Climatic data can indicate
the warmest and coldest temperatures
ever recorded for a location.
4.Why must we exercise caution when using
normals to predict weather? Weather
conditions on any given day might differ
widely from normals.
5.What factors cause climate? Latitude,
topography, closeness of lakes and
oceans, availability of moisture, global
wind patterns, ocean currents, and air
masses.
6.Why are coastal areas cooler in the
summer than inland areas? Water heats
up and cools down more slowly than land.
Thus, large bodies of water affect the
climates of coastal areas.

7.Describe the relationship between

temperature and altitude. Temperatures in
the lower atmosphere generally decrease
with altitude.
8.Figure 14-3 depicts what effect of
orographic lifting that we discussed last
Friday? (HINT: return to those notes!)
Cloud formation over a mountain.
Section 14.2 Climate Classification
1.Name the system used to classify climates.
What factors does it consider? The
Koeppen classification system
2.List the six main climate types. Topical, dry,
mild, continental, polar, high elevation
3.What climate type do we live in? List its
characteristics. Humid subtropical/mild.
Warm, muggy weather prevails during the
warmer months and dry, cool conditions
predominate the winter.
4.What is a microclimate? Give an example.
A localized climate that differs from the
main regional climate. The top of a
mountain.
5.What is the heat island effect and where
does it occur? Within heat islands, the
climate is warmer than in surrounding rural
areas. This happens in cities, because it is

caused by large expanses of asphalt and

many concrete buildings.