What is Climate?
Now it is time to talk climate. Climate is the "average weather" for a location. For example, in Missouri, we expect a cold winter and a hot, humid summer. We also expect to receive about 40 inches of rain per year. Some places are warm all year round. Others locations are cold all year, like the North Pole.

These two pictures are from locations that have very different climates. Which place do you think receives the most precipitation per year? Difference in average rainfall is one indicator of difference in climate.

There are many factors that determine the climate of a location. We will discuss a few of the most important factors and then travel around the world to visit different climates.

Latitude
Latitude is important because of the strength of sunlight at the location. At the equator the suns rays are more direct and the climate is likely to be warm. At the North Pole and South Pole the suns rays strike at a large angle and much of the energy is reflected back into the atmosphere rather than being absorbed at ground level.