Factors Influencing weather and Climate

Latitude

The distance away from the equator

The further one is away from the equator,the cooler it becomes.

Why- At the equator, the sun’s rays tend to be more overhead and concentrated on a smaller area, causing it to be hotter.

To add- less atmosphere and distance for the sun’s rays to pass through than the poles.The atmosphere absorbs more heat from these rays and therefore more is allowed to reach the equator

Altitude

This is the height above sea level. The higher one goes above sea level,the cooler it becomes. For every 1,000 meters travelled 6.5 degrees C is lost.

The sun’s rays first heat the surface and then air above it causing heat to be lost further away for the surface

As you rise, less impurities such as smoke,dust,water vapor etc trap heat. The heat is allowed to escape back into the atmosphere causing the altitude to be cooler.

Aspect

This deals with countries that have seasons.

In the northern hemisphere the south facing slopes are warmer than the north facing ones,because they receive a greater amount of the sun’s heat and for a longer period of time during the year. The opposite occurs in the southern hemisphere

Distance from the sea

This applies mainly to continents. During the summer, the ocean heats up slower than the land and the wind brings a cooling effect to the coastal areas. However, as the wind moves more inland, they become warmer due to the heat from the earth.

During the winter, the sea loses heat at a slower rate than the land. Its warmth is carried onto the coastal areas by the winds. As they continue the heat is lost and the interior of the continent will be cooler.

Cloud cover

The amount of cloud cover during the day or night will influence the daily range of temperature. This is more clearly seen in equatorial and desert regions. It affect the amount of radiation (heat) reaching and leaving the earth

Equatorial regions

In equatorial regions, the presence of clouds reduce the amount of incoming radiation. At night, the clouds prevent heat from escaping back into the atmosphere. As a result, the difference in temperature during the day and night is very small.

Desert regions

In hot deserts,the cloudless skies allow for rapid heat during the day and also rapid heat loss at night,since there is no blanket of clouds to trap the heat. Therefore, desert regions experience large difference in temperature during the day and night.