Tropical humid climates

little seasonality

ITCZ sits on top of them all year -> much precip

P>PET

Hot Dry Climates

Dry

due to STH or shadow (wrong side of mtn)

P<PET

N from STH -> polar front occasionally comes through w/ cyclone precip

Mild Mid Latitude Climates

Hot/Warm or Cool

grab bag for climates that don't fit into other catgories

hot summer

seasonally variable precipitation

cyclonic frontal precipitation

Cold Midlatitude Climates

N. USA, S. Canada

warmest month, avg. temp > 10°C

cyclonic frontal precipitation

precip varies seasonally

P = PET

Polar Climates

very cold

warmest month < 10°C

ex: antarctica, alaska, n. canada

warmest month above or equal to 22°C

Used for C and D Climate Types

warmest temp below 22°C

used for C and D climate types

less than four months of year over 10ºC

used for C and D climates

less than four months of the year over 10ºC

coldest month of year below -37°C

used for D climates

hot and dry

all months above 0°C

used for B climates

cool and dry

at least one month below 0°C

used for B types

dry season in summer

70% or more of annual precipitation falls in winter

used for C climates

dry season in winter

70% or more precipitation falls in summer

A, C, or D climates

constantly moist

rainfall consistent throughout the year

A, C, or D climates

monsoon rain

short dry season

precipitation in driest month < 6cm and total anual precipitation > 125cm

• 5-25° N/s
• monsoon
• tropical easterlies NE/SE trades
• peak precip @ max sun P>PET (ITCZ shift)
• min precip @ min sun P<PET
• small temp variation
• noticable dry season
• ex: west african coast, india

• 5-20° N/S
• tropical savanna
• tropical and equatorial air masses
• often continental (dry)
• wet season @ max sun
• dry season @ min sun
• less P, more variation in T than Af, Am
• ex: kenya, central/south america

• 0-10°N/S
• tropical rianforest
• precip from lifting due to hadly cell
• uniform temp and precip over year
• P>>PET -> runoff

Bwh

Bwk

• 15-35ºN/S
• Hot Desert (Bwh)
• Cold Desert (Bwk)
• high pressure from sth
• cT air masses (hot, dry)
• some temp variation
• low or no precip
• PET >>P
• Bwh ex: sahara, centra australia, central asia, arizona
• Bwk ex: gobi desert, new mexico, sw texas

• 15-25° N/S
• Hot Low Latitude Steppe
• periphery of hot desert
• summer STH
• winter cyclonic precip on ITCZ
• transition from Bwh to Aw
• ex: sahel, iran, afghanistan

• 35-55°N/S
• Cold Midlatitude Steppe
• dry: 20-40 cm/year and variable
• some cyclonic precipitation
• often in rainshadow
• cP air masses in winter
• local continental air masses in summer
• hot summers/cold winters
• precip from mP and mT air masses
• ex: Boulder!! s. america east of andes, central asia

Cfa

Cwa

• 20-35ºN/S
• Humid Subtropical
• maritime tropical air out of STH
• occaisional cool polar air
• cool winter, hot/humid summer
• moderately high precip year round
• more precip in summer
• Cwa -> distinct dry season in winter
• P>Pet
• ex: SE USA, SE chna, S Japan, E australia

• 30-45° N/S
• Mediterranean
• high pressure and continental dry air (summer)
• mP in winter -> more moist
• low temp variation
• low precip - concentrated in winter
• P>PET winter
• P<PET summer
• Csa = hotter than Csb in summer
• ex: mediterannean, SW US coast, SW australia
• be able to look @ precip vs temp and say this is west coast somewhere
• peak temp and min precip = west coast phenomenon

• 35-60°
• Marine West Coast
• cyclone precip, mP air mass
• max precip winter
• orographic effect -> much precip
• P>PET
• low annual temp variation for latitude
• ex: pacific nw, wester europe, new zeland, chile

• 30-55°
• Humid Continental
• at polar front -> collision of polar and tropical air masses -> cyclonic precipitation
• mT in summer -> more precip
• cP and cA in winter -> cold
• in europe extends further N (mP air masses)
• large annual temp range
• ex: NE US, Canada, Central and E Europe, N China

• 50-70°
• Sub Arctic
• source for cP air masses
• cold, dry, stable
• maritime air in summer -> cyclonic precip
• short, cool summer
• long, cold winter
• large annual temp variation
• alaska, canada, russia, n. scandanavia

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