Encyclopedia of Geography Terms, Themes, and Concepts

also be so in Florida. We must remember that the attempts to classify the invisible

entity of “climate” are based on similarities so that differences are downplayed.

The Ko ̈ppen classification is based on letter codes (Table 1). The code is com-

posed of six major climate types: A (tropical), B (dry), C (mild middle latitudes), D

(severe middle latitudes), E (polar), and H (highland). Individual climate types are

designated with two and three letters. The secondary and tertiary letters are w (winter

drought), s (summer drought), f (year-round precipitation), W (desert), S (steppe); a

through d (increasingly cool summer temperatures), h (subtropical variety of desert),

k (middle latitude variety of desert), T (tundra), and F (icecap).

62 Climate

Table 1. Climate Typology

Ko ̈ppen

code Climate name Climate characteristics Largest extent

Af Tropical rainforest Always warm; copious rainfall

throughout the year

Brazil

Am Tropical monsoon Always warm; short dry season during

low sun; very wet high-sun period

Southeastern Asia

Aw Tropical

wet-and-dry

Always warm to hot; low-sun season

dry; overall drier than Am climate

Africa south and

east of the Af

climate

BWh Subtropical desert Hottest temperatures on Earth;

precipitation scarce and irregular

Sahara of Africa

BWk Middle latitude

desert

Very hot in summer with cool winters;

precipitation somewhat more than in

BWh and includes winter snow

Central Asia

BSh Subtropical steppe Marginal to BWh climates with more

moderate summer temperatures and

greater precipitation

African Sahel

BSk Middle latitude

steppe

Marginal to BWk climates with more

moderate summer temperatures and

greater precipitation

Steppes of southern

Russia

Csa Mediterranean Modest winter precipitation and dry

summers; milder summer temperatures

than inland climates with winters above

freezing

Coastal lands

fringing the

Mediterranean Sea

Csb Mediterranean Summers not quite as hot as Csa Coastal lands

fringing the

Mediterranean Sea

Cfa Humid subtropical Summers warm to hot with precipitation

all year; winter temperatures sometimes

below freezing

Southeastern United

States