Year 7 · Geography · 2 minutes
Climate zones: why the world isn't one temperature
Weather is today. Climate is the pattern.
Key terms
- Weather
- What is happening outside today, such as rain, sun and wind.
- Climate
- The pattern of weather a place has over a long time, usually thirty years or more.
- Climate zone
- A broad region with a similar climate, such as tropical, arid, temperate or polar.
- Latitude
- How far a place is from the equator, which the world's climate zones follow.
- Arid
- Very dry, like most of Australia's interior of desert and grassland.
Transcript
On the same winter's day, Darwin can reach around thirty degrees, while Hobart barely makes twelve. Same country. Very different climates.
Weather is what's happening outside today: rain, sun, wind. Climate is the pattern of weather a place has over a long time, usually thirty years or more.
Around the world, climates fall into broad zones that follow latitude. Tropical near the equator. Dry deserts. Mild temperate zones. And icy polar regions. Big northern continents and high mountains add continental and highland climates too.
But why? Think of a torch. At the equator, the Sun's rays hit almost straight on, packing their energy into a small patch. Near the poles, the same beam arrives at a low angle and spreads over a much bigger area. Less energy for every patch of ground.
So the planet's climates form bands, warm at the equator and colder towards the poles.
Now zoom in on Australia. The far north is tropical, with a hot wet season and a warm dry season. Most of the continent is arid: a vast, dry interior of desert and grassland. The southeast and southwest are temperate, and Tasmania is cool temperate.
So: weather is today, climate is the long term pattern. Direct sunlight warms the tropics, while slanting light leaves the poles cold. And Australia stretches from a tropical north to a cool temperate south.
Sources
Every fact in the video, and where it comes from.
- 1bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_014015.shtml
- Darwin's long-term July mean daily maximum is about 30.7 C; Hobart's July mean maximum is about 12 C.
- 2bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_094029.shtml
- Darwin's long-term July mean daily maximum is about 30.7 C; Hobart's July mean maximum is about 12 C.
- 3niwa.co.nz/climate-and-weather/whats-difference-between-w…
- Weather is short-term conditions; climate is the long-term pattern of weather, usually averaged over 30 years or more (WMO standard period).
- 4content.meteoblue.com/it/ricerca-istruzione/risorse-formative/meteos…
- Broad climate zones follow latitude: tropical near the equator, dry/arid zones (largely around 15-35 degrees), temperate mid-latitudes, polar near the poles; continental climates occur mainly on large northern-hemisphere landmasses and highland climates in high mountains (Köppen).
- 5hko.gov.hk/en/education/edu06nature/ele_srad.htm
- Near the equator the Sun's rays strike close to vertically and the energy is concentrated on a small area; at high latitudes the same beam strikes at a low angle and spreads over a larger area, so each square metre receives less energy. Distance to the Sun is not the reason.
- 6bom.gov.au/climate/maps/averages/climate-classification
- Australia (BoM Köppen-based classification): tropical north with wet and dry seasons; arid and semi-arid climates cover about 70% of the continent; temperate south-east and south-west; Tasmania is temperate/cool temperate.
- 7aws.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Arid_Aust_Land.pdf
- Australia (BoM Köppen-based classification): tropical north with wet and dry seasons; arid and semi-arid climates cover about 70% of the continent; temperate south-east and south-west; Tasmania is temperate/cool temperate.
- 8bom.gov.au/climate/climate-guides/guides/014-Darwin-NT-Cl…
- Northern Australia's tropical climate has a wet season (roughly November to April) and a dry season (roughly May to October).
Image and sound credits
- “Daintree Rainforest, Queensland (483850) (9443590252)” by Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
- “Parallel Dunes of Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert (50952731586)” by Sentinel Hub, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
- “Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (32409116352)” by Steven Penton from Bakers Beach, Tasmania Australia, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
- “Amazon rainforest manaus APA Margem Esquerda do Rio Negro - panoramio” by James Martins, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)
- “Utah Dunes Landscape - West Desert District” by Bureau of Land Management - Utah/Bob Wick (Public domain)
- “Acadia National Park, deciduous forest in autumn” by National Park Service / uncredited derivative work: User:Maps and stuff (cropped to 3:2 ratio; white balanced) (Public domain)
- “A view of Antarctica’s ice sheet and mountains” by NASA/Christy Hansen (Public domain)
Teaching this next week?
Kuraplan turns this topic into a lesson plan, slides and a worksheet for your class in about a minute.
Plan a lesson on this topic
