LACEMOPS Factors That Affect Climate llhammon Strategy “The wind begins in a cave. Far to the north, a young god sleeps in that cave. He dreams of a girl, and he sighs. And the night wind stirs with his breath.” …Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus

Give me a “L” (latitude)

Give me an “A” (air masses) An air mass is a large (usually thousands of miles across) volume of air that has horizontally uniform properties in terms of temperature, and to a lesser extent humidity

Give me a “C” (continentality) A measure of how the climate of a place is affected by its remoteness from the oceans and oceanic air. The difference between the average temperatures prevailing in January and July is most often quoted as an indicator of this.

Give me an “E” (elevation) At higher altitudes, temperatures grow colder by approximately 4 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1,000 feet. This cooling effect stems from low atmospheric pressure -- with less air to push down on the mountains, the air molecules spread out and lose energy.

Give me a “M” (mountain barriers) The air that descends from the mountain warms up and vapor pressure increase which results the relatively humid to lower and air becomes drier. thus, mountain barrier can affect precipitation/winds and these factors affect the climate.

Give me an “O” (ocean currents) An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun

Give me a “P” (pressure and wind belts) A pressure belt is an area which has consistently high or low pressure. Winds move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The belts tend to move with the seasons, toward the equator in winter and toward the poles in summer.

Give me a “S” (storms) A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather.

L atitude L atitude A ir Masses A ir Masses C ontinentality C ontinentality E levation E levation M ountain Barriers M ountain Barriers O cean Currents O cean Currents P ressure and Wind Belts P ressure and Wind Belts S torms S torms Introduced by: Dr. James Petersen – Texas State University – San Marcos, TX, What’s that Spell?