Weather & Climate By: Stacey Groener, Anthony Vargas, and Sheila Hernandez

The Difference between Climate and Weather Climate is temperature and precipitation over a long period of time. Weather is produced by heat, air pressure, wind, and moisture in a climate zone.

Tropical Climate Zone The tropical climate zone is around the equator. In some places it extends as wide as 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south latitude.

Temperate Climate Zone The average day in a temperate zone is 80 degrees. It’s never too cold or too hot. Many animals and plants thrive in the moderate weather.

Desert Climate Zone A desert gets less than 10 inches of rain a year. Sometimes a desert doesn't even get any rain at all. Some times the rain won’t even touch the ground. The Sonoran desert can get up to 113 degrees.

Polar Climate Zone Blizzards happen in the polar climate zone. Polar climates occurs only above 60 degrees north latitude or below 60 degrees south latitude. In winter it’s dark for 6 months straight. In summer it’s light out for 6 months straight.

Rain, Freezing Rain, Sleet, and Snow Rain is snow that falls into warm air and melts into rain. Freezing rain is snow that melts hits cold air and then freezes when it hits something. Sleet is snow that melts then refreezes into sleet as it travels through cold air. Snow falls into cold air. It never melts on the way down.

Types of Precipitation - Rain Gray cumulus clouds form rain and snow. Snow falls into warm air and melts into rain. Snow melts when it hits a hot surface and then freezes when it hits something cold.

Extreme Weather Tsunamis Tsunamis are earthquakes or volcanic explosions in bodies of water that make big waves of water. A killer tsunami killed 78 people in the Philippines.

Extreme Weather Tornadoes Tornadoes are called twisters, dust devils, whirlwinds, waterspouts, and cyclones. Tornadoes happen when cold air tries to go up and hot air goes down. Tornadoes are caused by the updrafts and the downdrafts caused in thunderstorms.

Hurricanes Hurricanes are nature's largest storms. They can be as 600 miles 966 kilometer wide. They can last for several days or weeks. rong winds, heavy rains, and large waves occur during these storms. A hurricane is a large