1. Have students pick up handout on way in and begin answering the warm up.

2. Warm Up: Climate
When you are an adult, what kind of climate do you want to live in? Why?

3. Climographs
TEACHER: Discuss how to read a climograph. Temperature is a line graph and precipitation is the bar graph

4. Your Turn! Using the chart provided, create a climograph for Houston.
Remember temperature is a line.
Precipitation is a bar.
Pass out blank climographs. IF you want a different city, change data on ppt.

5. Name: _____________________________ Class Period: __________
Houston, Texas
Front side of student note page.

6. Precipitation (Inches)
Your Turn!
Month
Temperature (*F)
Precipitation (Inches)
January 50 3
February 54
March 61
April 68
May 74 5
June 80
July 83 4
August 82
September 78
October 70
November
December 53
Pass out blank climographs. IF you want a different city, change data on ppt.

7. Factors That Affect Climatep.

8. Some Definitions
Weather: a condition of the atmosphere in one place during a short period of time
Precipitation: Moisture that falls from the sky.
Climate: weather patterns typical for an area over a long period of time
Make sure students understand the difference between weather and climate and that precipitation is more than rain. No need to add to notes if students understand these terms.

9. WHAT AFFECTS CLIMATE? L – latitude A – air masses C – continentality
E – elevation
M – mountain barriers
O – ocean currents
P – pressure & winds
S – storms

10. Brain Break! What do you see? What do the colors represent?
What do the colors represent? (red=hot, blue=cold)
So what conclusion can you reach about latitude and climate?
What do you see?
What do the colors represent?
What correlation is there between climate and latitude?

11. Latitude Latitude is the most important factor affecting climate.
The farther away from the Equator – the colder and drier it becomes. Direct rays of the sun are always between the tropics. Areas not in the tropics receive indirect sun rays.

12. Latitude Tropical Zone is also called the low latitudes
Polar Zone is also called the high latitudes
Temperate Zone is also called the mid-latitudes
Reinforce from season lecture.

13. As latitude _________, the average annual temperature __________.
Brain Break!
Turn to your partner and discuss how you would fill in the blanks and graph.
As latitude _________, the average
annual temperature __________.
increases
decreases
Temperature
With a partner, have students decide what would go in the blanks and how to draw the graph.
0° Latitude °

14. Air Masses
In the Northern hemisphere, cold air from the polar regions comes from the north. Hot air from the tropics comes from the south (this is opposite in the southern hemisphere).

15. Continentality
Where a place is located on continent.

16. Continentality
The farther a location is from a large body of water, the greater change between winter and summer.
Sea heats up slowly and cools slowly.
Land heats up quickly and cools quickly.

17. Brain Break!
So….what is the difference in temperature between Houston and Galveston?
In Summer, places near the sea will be slightly cooler
Places in the center of large landmasses will be very warm.
The opposite happens in winter.

18. Brain Break!
Discuss Houston vs. Galveston
Looking at the map, how would you explain the extreme temperature differences between these two cities that are at approximately the same latitude?

19. Elevation
It gets colder as you go up a mountain. The formula for vertical climate is: -3.5 F for every 1000 feet increase in elevation. So it would be cooler at the top of a 10,000 foot mountain than it would be at the bottom.

20. Brain Break!
Little Susie is going on vacation. She will spend one day in Location A and one in Location B . Based on the illustration, what clothes would you tell her to pack? B A

21. Mountain Barriers Mountains can stop storms and air masses.
Mountains are also responsible for the orographic effect: Wind containing moisture hits the windward side of a mountain. The moisture full clouds are too heavy to make it over the mountain so precipitation occurs.

22. Mountain Barriers continued
After the rain, the clouds have no moisture and are able to rise over the mountain. The side away from the wind is the leeward side. The leeward side of a mountain is arid (dry), it’s in the rain shadow, and is usually desert.

23. Brain Break!
So based on the climate you want to live in when you’re older, what side of the mountain would you want to live on?

24. Ocean Currents Cold currents are dry.
Warm currents are wet and carry moisture.
Both affect climate!

25. Warm Currents: _________ climate Cold Currents: ________climate
Brain Break!
How do ocean currents
affect climate?
Warm Currents: _________ climate
Cold Currents: ________climate
warmer
cooler

26. Pressure and Prevailing Winds
High pressure is heavy, cold air. Low pressure is warm, light air. Heat rises and gets pushed up by the cold air.
Prevailing winds are the type of winds a certain region normally receives.

27. Bill Nye and Wind
Short video (less than 2 minutes) After video, discuss

28. Storms
Where polar winds meet westerlies there are commonly storms. When hot air masses and cold air masses collide – there are storms! Tornadoes in the Midwest are great examples!

29. Brain Break! How is Houston’s climate affected by storms?
Did you know that hurricanes are not called hurricanes in other parts of the world????

30. Processing Directions
Pick a climograph for a city.
On the chart provided on the back of your notes page, use LACEMOPS to describe how the city’s climate is affected by it’s location on the earth.
Below is an example for Katy.
Latitude
Katy is in the temperate zone so it will not have extreme temperatures.
Air mass
Air masses can affect us since we are not  blocked by mountains.  We would get cold air from the north and warm air from the tropics since we are in the northern hemisphere.
Continentality
It is close to the Gulf of Mexico so it has some influence that makes it more moderate than Dallas for example.  However, it has more of an effect on Galveston.
For HOMEWORK: Give each student a LACEMOP worksheet (this might be attached to the warm up and climograph worksheet if used) and 1 climagraph card. Students should complete the chart using climate factors of the city on the card they were given. Students will need textbook or online resources to complete the worksheet.