Weather and Climate Mr. Bailey’s World Geography

First, a few key terms! Precipitation is a fancy word for all water that falls to the earth from the sky (rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.) Weather is the atmospheric conditions (temperature, wind, precipitation) at a given time at a given place. Seasons are periods of the year that generally have specific weather patterns and similar hours of daylight. »They exist because of the tilt of the Earth!

Seasons!

Prevailing Winds As mentioned earlier, wind and water currents are the ways that the Earth tries to control it’s temperature. –More direct sunlight = hot equator –Less direct sunlight = cold poles The Earth is trying to reach temperature equilibrium, but can’t because the sun continues to shine and send more heat our way.

Understanding the Winds

Now let’s label!

Ocean Currents Like the prevailing winds, ocean currents are also part of the way that the planet is trying to reach temperature equilibrium. Unlike the wind traveling through the sky, the patterns of water are often blocked by land, which forms rotating currents called gyres.

Just draw the currents, don’t worry about the names!