Five Climatic Regions

A. Tropical Climate

1. Tropical Rain Forest

– hot and humid all year round; commonly located near the equator; temperature
reaches 27’C; average rainfall is 203 cm; has lush tropical rain forests; experienced in the
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, as well as the eastern and western coast of
Vietnam and Cambodia.
2. Tropical Savanna
– dry during the cold season and wet during summer; temperature is high;
experienced in Cambodia, large parts of Thailand and Myanmar, northern Sri Lanka, and
southern India.

B. Mid-latitude Climate

1. Mediterranean
– places with climate and vegetation similar to those near the Mediterranean Sea;
commonly experienced in coastal areas between latitudes 30’ and 40’ north and west;
moderately rainy winters and warm summers.
2. Humid Subtropical
– Usually, these places in mid-latitude; moderate precipitation (rain, snow)
throughout the year; during winter, temperate ranges from -3’C to 18’C, over 22’C
during the summer; experienced in the far north regions of Vietnam, Laos and
Myanmar, as well as northeast India, southeast China and southern Japan.
3. Humid Continental
– Climate is affected by landforms rather than wind movement and precipitation;
experienced only in the northern part of the globe; in Asia, experienced in northeast
China, North Korea, and the northern portion of South Korea.

C. Highland Climate
- climate varies according to land elevation; as places get higher, wind gets colder; felt
in the mountain and high plateaus; temperatures of -18’C up to 10’C; average annual
precipitation of 23 cm; experienced in the higher regions of Himalayas, Tibet,
northern Nepal, and Pakistan.

D. High Latitude Climate

1. Sub-artic – has a long and extremely cold winter; very limited vegetation;
experienced in the northern portion of Mongolia
2. Tundra – cold all year round; has a cold summer; wind comes from the polar and
Arctic regions; extremely long winter; temperature ranges from -22’c to 6’c; average
annual precipitation of 20cm.
 E. Dry Climate
1. Desert – has dry areas with sparse vegetation; with average rainfall of 25 cm; may be
extremely hot the whole day and cold at night; experienced in parts of Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as in countries in the Arabian Peninsula.
2. Steppe – Has dry areas; with average rainfall of 25.4 up to 50.8 cm; experienced in
Tajikistan, Kygyztan and parts of Kazakhstan and Georgia.

What is Monsoon?
- Despite having a dry climate, rains are frequent in large parts of South and Southeast
Asia.
- This is because of the monsoon. The monsoon is wind that changes directions
along with the changes in weather.
- Its name is derived from the Arabic word mausim, which means “season” or
“seasonal wind”
- The flow of the monsoon in Asia is divided into different parts. Two of them are the
South Asian Monsoon, which affects countries in the Indian subcontinent, and the
East Asian Monsoon, which affects most of Southeast Asia, including the Philippine,
Indonesia, and countries in the Malay Peninsula, as well as East Asia, where China,
the Korean Peninsula, and Japan are located.
- The Monsoon greatly affects the climate of India and its neighboring countries in
Indian subcontinent. Between the months of June and September, the summer
monsoon brings rains that are necessary for planting rice and other crops.
- The Monsoon also affects the tropical climate of the Philippines and nearby countries.
- During summer, the wind blows from the sea, going toward the hot land.
- In winter, dry wind blows from land to sea.
- The southwest monsoon, which blows from the southern part of Asia from May until
September, is called habagat.
- It brings heavy rains on the eastern coast of Southeast Asia.
- The northeast monsoon that causes cold weather in the country from November to
February is known as amihan.