Geography & Local Weather
Know that different places around the world have very different typical weather — tropical places are hot and wet all year, deserts are very dry, polar regions are freezing cold — and that geography (distance from the equator, altitude, nearness to the sea) affects local weather
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe typical weather in at least three different climate types
- Explain that places near the equator tend to be hotter
- Name at least one factor that affects a place's weather besides latitude
The lesson
You already know weather changes with the seasons and can be sunny, rainy, windy, or snowy. Now zoom out and look at the whole world. Some places barely change all year, because where they sit on Earth gives them almost the same weather all the time.
The sun's rays hit the equator almost straight on, all year round. That makes places near the equator hot. Farther away, toward the poles, sunlight arrives at a slant and spreads out, so it warms the ground less. That is why the North and South Poles stay so cold.
Compare three places. A rainforest near the equator is hot and rainy almost every day. A desert gets very little rain, so it can be scorching by day and surprisingly cold at night. Near the North Pole, sunlight is weak, so the ground stays covered in ice and snow.
Latitude is not the whole story. Mountains are colder than lowlands even near the equator, because the air gets thinner and cooler higher up. Places next to the ocean often have milder weather than places deep inland, because the sea keeps temperatures more even.
Distance from the equator, height above sea level, and closeness to the ocean all shape a place's everyday weather.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.