Download Climate and Weather - McEachern High School

Climate
Climate
 Climate: Long term weather patterns of an area
 Patterns used to describe climate
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Annual variation of temperature
Precipitation
Wind
Other weather variables
Causes of Climate
 1. Latitude: Areas of
different latitude receive
different amounts of solar
radiation
 Example: tropics vs the
poles
 2. Topographic effects:
 water heats up and cools
down more slowly than land
 As altitude increase
temperature decreases
 Mountains have different
climates from one side to
another
Causes of Climate
 3. Air Masses:
 two of the main causes of
weather are the
movement and
interaction of Air masses
 The location of where the
air mass forms impacts
the areas climate
Rain Shadow
 The incoming warm and
moist air is drawn
towards the top of the
mountain, where it
condenses and
precipitates before it
crosses the top.
 The air, without much
moisture left, advances
behind the mountains
creating a drier side called
the "rain shadow".
Source Regions
Over warm area: the warm
area makes the air above
warm.
Over water: water
evaporates into the air
above and makes it moist.
Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom
Types of Air Masses
cP
Continental Polar
mP
Maritime Polar
Dry, cold air to central
and eastern US.
mP
Maritime Polar
Moist, cold air to east
areas of the Canada
Moist, cold air to west
coast of the US.
mT
Maritime Tropical
mT
Maritime Tropical
Moist, warm air to west
coast of the Mexico.
Dry, warm to Desert SW
Moist, warm air to south
Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom
east coast
of the US.
Types of Air Masses
DESCRIPTION
1. Maritime: (m)
2. Continental: (c)
CONDITION
moist
dry
LOCATION FORMED
(marina/water)
(continents/land)
3. Tropical: (T)
warm
(tropics)
4. Polar: (P)
cold
(poles)
Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom
Air masses move by prevailing winds. The winds cause
the air masses to move over land and water. As the air
masses move, they change. This is called air mass
modification. The air masses becomes more like the
area it is moving over and at the same time, the area the
air mass is moving over becomes more like the mass.
Seasons
Seasons
 Seasons:
 Short term periods with specific weather conditions
caused by regular variations in daylight, temperature,
and weather patterns
 Seasons occur due to the amount of solar radiation
an area receives
Earth’s Orbit
 Sun centered:
Heliocentric
 Earth’s Orbit is elliptical
shaped
 Takes the Earth 365 days
to make a complete
revolution
Tilt of the Earth’s Axis
 Seasons are caused by
the angle of tilt of the
Earth’s Axis
 A change in the tilt could
affect the climate