Download Climate Connections

Climate Connections
Welcome to a new baby Hutton!
1) List Ingredients of weather used
to determine climate.
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Temperature
Precipitation
Atmospheric pressure
Winds
(cloud cover, humidity)
Climate is long term weather patterns!
Climate vs Weather
 Weather= daily!
2) Climate vs Weather
 Climate= avg for a place over a long period
of time.
3) 4 Reasons Canada’s Climate is
Diverse:
 Canada is a very large country
 Different elevations produce different climate
conditions
 Coastal regions have different climates from
inland regions
 Wind and pressure systems move weather
conditions from one part of the country to
the other.
5) Latitude
 The energy from the sun that hits Earth at
the equator covers a small area. The same
amount of energy that hits Earth at a more
northerly location is spread over a larger
area because of Earth’s curvature.
6. Relief
 Refers to differences in
elevation of the Earth’s
surface.
 Relief affects
movement of air
masses because high
elevation (mountains)
act as barriers to the
movement of air
masses, which affects
temperature and
precipitation.
 Vancouver has warm rainy weather in the
winter (due to the closeness to the water
and air masses) whereas Calgary which is
on the other side of the Western Cordillera
has cold, dry weather because the Western
Cordillera blocks the air masses from
reaching this area.
7. Elevation
 As elevation increases, temperature
decreases.
 Reason: As air rises, it expands because
there is less air pressure and therefore loses
heat.
9. Continental vs Maritime
 Continental: Climate type that develops
away from the influence of water.
 Annual temperature range tends to be large
and precipitation low.
 Maritime: Climate type that is strongly
influenced by the closeness of an ocean or
other large body of water.
 Annual temperature range tends to be small
and precipitation is high.
Modified Continental
 Areas near the great lakes
 Partial maritime influence (reduced temp.
range and a source of moisture).
10. Bodies of water…
 Water bodies cool the land in the summer,
and warm up the land in the winter
11.
 A) ocean currents- the temp. of an ocean
current affects the temp. of the air that
passes over it.
 B) The meeting of the cold Labrador current
and the warm Gulf stream create special
weather conditions- damp and foggy!
 Ships must take special precautions to avoid
collisions.
12. Air masses
 An air mass is a large volume of air with the
climate conditions of the area where it was
formed.
 Moist- originates over an ocean
 Dry- originates over continent.
13. Low and High Pressure
 Low pressure: created by warmed air rising
above the heated ground
 High pressure: created when rising air has
cooled and falls toward the earth.
 Air moves from high to low pressure
 This moving air causes wind.
 B) In Canada, prevailing winds blow from
west to east (westerlies).
 C) cP air mass of Northern Canada moves
southward, its cold, dry conditions are
carried across Canada by the prevailing
westerly winds. mT air mass from the Gulf of
Mexico brings warm, moist conditions to
eastern Canada.
14.
 Polar Front- boundary between the cold,dry
polar air and warm, wet tropical air.
 Jet stream- west to east movement of air in
the mid-latitude flowing at speeds of up to
400km/h at an altitude of between 8000 and
15000m
 The jet stream changes speed and position
with the seasons. In winter, it typically
moves southward, allowing cold Arctic air
masses to flow farther south into the United
States. In summer, it moves Northward,
allowing warm air masses from the Gulf of
Mexico to flow farther north into Canada’s
interior.