Chapter 17

Climate

17.1 Climate and Its Causes.

Lesson Objectives

• Describe the effect of latitude on the solar radiation a location receives and how this
  influences climate.


• Diagram the Hadley, Ferrell and Polar atmospheric circulation cells and show how they
  influence the climate of various locations.


• Discuss the other important location factors that influence a location’s climate: posi-
  tion in the global wind belts, proximity to a large water body, position relative to a
  mountain range and others.

Introduction

While almost anything can happen with the weather, climate is more predictable. The
weather on a particular winter day in San Diego may be colder than on the same day in
Lake Tahoe, but, on average, Tahoe’s winter climate is significantly colder than San Diego’s.
Climate then is the long-term average of weather. Good climate is why we choose to vacation
in Hawaii in February, even though the weather is not guaranteed to be good!