Warm Up: Climate

• When you are an adult, what kind of climate do you want to live in? Why?

Climographs

Your Turn!

• • • Using the chart provided, create a climograph for Houston.

Remember temperature is a line.

Precipitation is a bar.

Month January February March April May June July August September October November December

Your Turn!

Temperature (*F)

50 54 61 68 74 80 83 82 78 70 61 53

Precipitation (Inches)

3 3 3 3 5 5 4 3 5 4 4 3

Factors That Affect Climate

p.

Some Definitions

Weather: a condition of the atmosphere in one place during a short period of time Precipitation: Moisture that falls from the sky.

Climate: weather patterns typical for an area over a long period of time

WHAT AFFECTS CLIMATE?

• • • • • • • •

L – latitude A – air masses C – continentality E – elevation M – mountain barriers O – ocean currents P – pressure & winds S – storms

Brain Break!

What do you see?

What do the colors represent?

What correlation is there between climate and latitude?

Latitude

• • Latitude is the most important factor affecting climate. The farther away from the Equator – the colder and drier it becomes. Direct rays of the sun are always between the tropics. Areas not in the tropics receive indirect sun rays.

Latitude

• • • Tropical Zone is also called the low latitudes Polar Zone is also called the high latitudes Temperate Zone is also called the mid-latitudes

Brain Break!

Turn to your partner and discuss how you would fill in the blanks and graph.

0 ° Latitude 90 °

Air Masses

• In the Northern hemisphere, cold air from the polar regions comes from the north. Hot air from the tropics comes from the south (this is opposite in the southern hemisphere).

Continentality

• Where a place is located on continent.

Continentality

–The farther a location is from a large body of water, the greater change between winter and summer.

Sea heats up slowly and cools slowly.

Land heats up quickly and cools quickly.

Brain Break!

So….what is the difference in temperature between Houston and Galveston?

Brain Break!

Looking at the map, how would you explain the extreme temperature differences between these two cities that are at approximately the same latitude?

Elevation

• It gets colder as you go up a mountain. The formula for vertical climate is: -3.5 F for every 1000 feet increase in elevation. So it would be 35 cooler at the top of a 10,000 foot mountain than it would be at the bottom.

Brain Break!

Little Susie is going on vacation. She will spend one day in Location A and one in Location B . Based on the illustration, what clothes would you tell her to pack?

B A

Mountain Barriers

• • Mountains can stop storms and air masses. Mountains are also responsible for the orographic effect: Wind containing moisture hits the windward side of a mountain. The moisture full clouds are too heavy to make it over the mountain so precipitation occurs.

Mountain Barriers continued

• After the rain, the clouds have no moisture and are able to rise over the mountain. The side away from the wind is the leeward side. The leeward side of a mountain is arid (dry), it’s in the rain shadow, and is usually desert.

Brain Break!

So based on the climate you want to live in when you’re older, what side of the mountain would you want to live on?

Ocean Currents

• Cold currents are dry.

• Warm currents are wet and carry moisture.

• Both affect climate!

Brain Break!

How do ocean currents affect climate?

Warm Cold

Pressure and Prevailing Winds

• High pressure is heavy, cold air. Low pressure is warm, light air. Heat rises and gets pushed up by the cold air.

• Prevailing winds are the type of winds a certain region normally receives.

Bill Nye and Wind

Storms

• Where polar winds meet westerlies there are commonly storms. When hot air masses and cold air masses collide – there are storms! Tornadoes in the Midwest are great examples!

Brain Break!

hurricanes are not called hurricanes in other parts of the world????

Processing Directions

• • • Pick a climograph for a city.

On the chart provided on the back of your notes page, use LACEMOPS to describe how the city’s climate is affected by it’s location on the earth.

Below is an example for Katy.

L A atitude ir mass

Katy is in the temperate zone so it will not have extreme temperatures.

Air masses can affect us since we are not blocked by mountains. We would get cold air from the north and warm air from the tropics since we are in the northern hemisphere.

C ontinentality

It is close to the Gulf of Mexico so it has some influence that makes it more moderate than Dallas for example. However, it has more of an effect on Galveston.