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Factors Affecting Weather and Climate There are 6 factors that affect weather and climate. 1) Latitude The relationship between latitude and the weather and climate is very straightforward: as latitude increases, whether north or south of the equator, temperature decreases. Geographers have divided the world into three temperature belts. Two of the zones are extreme – Tropical and the Polar. Between them the conditions mix to create the Temperate Zone. 2) Elevation Temperatures drop when the elevation rises because air expands as it rises from the earth’s surface. This decrease in air pressure results in cooling. The rate of cooling is about 1degree for every 100m in height. 3) Winds and Air Masses Wind is air moving horizontally across the earth’s surface. Winds are the great “movers of the atmosphere.” They can move cold air to moderate a hot area, or moist air to bring rain to a dry one. Winds follow one basic principle: they move dense, heavy, falling air from high pressure areas toward low pressure, where the air is less dense, lighter and rising. Since cold air is heavier and denser than warm air, the air in the polar areas has a high pressure. In the hot equatorial areas, the opposite is true. 4) Nearness to Large Bodies of Water The oceans, the world’s largest bodies of water, have a tremendous influence on the weather and climate. They influence the air above them, and then that air may be carried inland. Large lakes such as the Great Lakes can also exert a considerable influence on the air around them. The great water bodies tend to act in the opposite way to the great land masses. Water heats and cools much more slowly than the land. As a result, the oceans and large lakes tend to be cool when the land masses are warm, and vice versa. When an air mass moves inland from over an ocean, it warms the cold areas in winter, but cools the warm ones in summer. 5) Physical Features: Barriers or Throughways Differences in relief can have a considerable influence on the weather and climate. High mountain ranges can make coastal areas heavy with moisture while keeping plain areas on the other sides relatively dry. In areas where there is no significant relief more extreme conditions can appear. Generally flat and open plains allow for cold, air masses to pass through northern areas and hot, dry air in more southern areas. 6) Ocean Currents The effect of oceans has already been outlined above. Ocean currents can increase or decrease that effect. If the currents are warm, they will keep both winter and summer conditions on the land somewhat warmer than expected. Cold currents will have the opposite effect. Heavy and frequent fogs along coastal areas occur when there is a mixing of air above the cold and warm water currents. The cooling of the warm, moist air leads to condensation and foggy conditions.