1. Is this weather or climate? What is the difference?weatherclimate

2. Weather is what happens each day or over several days or weeks. How would you describe the weather on this day at Crater Lake?

3. Climate describes the longer term variations in the atmosphere (years, decades, centuries). What characteristics of the area around Crater Lake might impact the climate at the lake?

4. Weather system move off the Pacific Ocean carrying lots of moisture.moisture Crater Lake (Mt. Mazama Caldera) is a high point as moisture moves across the state. How would this affect the climate? Look at how much snow falls on average.snow Before the moist air gets to Crater Lake it also has to move across the Coast Range.

5. In Southern Oregon the annual rainfall varies. On this map the cool colors like blues, greens and purples represent more precipitation (the darker the shade the greater the amount); the warm colors represent less precipitation (oranges are the driest). Compare the precipitation map and the elevation map. What do you notice?elevation

6. Compare the shape of this glacial valley to the valley’s around Crater Lake.Crater Lake

7. How might these valley’s have been formed? What does this tell you about the climate around Mt. Mazama long ago?