It is studied by a discipline called climatology , and has several measuring instruments that facilitate studies and experiments that help forecast its behavior.

“Weather” should not be confused with the meaning of “climate”, since the former refers to the atmospheric conditions at a specific moment and not to the constant conditions of temperature, pressure and other elements considered “normal” in said physical space.

For example, it may be raining in a certain city as in another city on the other side of the world at the same time (each in its own time zone), but it is very possible that those two countries do not share the same climate during the same months. of the year.

Weather elements

Climate, like weather, have common elements:

• Temperature . Heat energy in the air.
• Pressure . It is the weight of the air mass multiplied by each unit of surface.
• Humidity . It is the amount of vapor in the air.
• Precipitation . Refers to rain, snow, fog, etc.
• Wind . It is the large-scale flow of gases that is related to the movements of the Earth.
• Cloudiness . It refers to the amount of clouds at a given time.

Basically, based on the above, conditions are created that trigger some climatic phenomena.

Temperature is the best known and closest element of all. It refers to the amount of heat energy that is contained in the air. The common citizen, when feeling hot or cold, usually attributes it to temperature, regardless of whether other elements are linked such as humidity, for example.

Each country and its cities have an average temperature that is calculated taking into account a whole year of measurements. In this way, it is possible to forecast how the climate will behave in this sense in the following years.

Climate factors

They differ from the elements of climate in that they are mathematically constant, while the elements are dynamic or non-constant.

• • Latitude . It is the distance expressed in degrees (angle) from a point on Earth to the Equator 0 °. To measure it, the 90 ° of the Poles with respect to the Equator is taken into account.
  • Altitude . It is the vertical distance from a point on the earth’s surface subject to sea level.
  • Distribution of lands and seas. It is the percentage relationship that exists between the amount of water and land on Earth. It includes the oceans, rivers, lakes, etc., in addition to the surface.
  • Relief . They are the different levels that the surface has and also those at the bottom of the sea.
  • Vegetation. Vegetation influences the climate in a direct way. Plants can help lower the temperature, among other functions.
  • Ocean currents. They are closely related to the maintenance of oceanic temperature, since they transport cold waters to warmer ones and vice versa.

Climate zones

According to the average temperature recorded in many areas of the planet, climatic zones have been established that serve to describe how the climate behaves in a certain season or season of the year. The main climatic zones are:

• • Tropical zone, 0 ° -23.5 °. It occurs in regions located between the equator and the tropics. Its main characteristic is that, at noon, the sun’s rays reach the ground almost vertically during most of the year.
  • Subtropics , 23.5 ° –40 °. Summer is hotter, therefore, solar radiation is greater. There is not much humidity so the sun’s rays penetrate more directly.
  • Temperate zone , 40 ° –60 °. It has a cooler temperature and the sun’s rays are angled a little more gently with respect to the previous areas.
  • Cold zone , 60 ° –90 °. They are the polar zones where, as is evident, the temperature is lower.

Weather example

Knowing the types of climates or climatic zones, we can only give examples of the existing climate in some countries.

• New Zealand: temperate .
• Costa Rica: tropical .
• Nepal: tropical and arctic .
• Greece: temperate and warm in summer.
• Cyprus: very warm , with good wind and are almost damp.
• Italy: temperate and warm.
• Portugal: warm and temperate.