Climate Abbreviations

What is the Climate?

Climate is the succession of different weather states that repeat and succeed each other in the atmosphere throughout the year in a given region. To know what the climate of a place is, it is necessary to make observations of the atmospheric weather daily, for many years, to verify the regularity of the combinations of its elements.

The elements that make up the climate are: temperature, atmospheric pressure (corresponding to the force caused by the force of the air), precipitation (rain, snow, and hail) and winds.

Atmospheric weather

The atmospheric conditions of a day determine the atmospheric weather and not the weather, that is, the atmospheric weather is a passing condition of the weather elements. It varies from day to day or even from hour to hour. At one time of the day, the temperature may be high, with the sun shining, and at another time, rain and a drop in temperature may occur.

Weather forecasts give an idea of the combination of weather elements at any given time. In general, the expressions: good weather, cloudy weather, partially cloudy or rainy weather are used.

Types of weather

Climates are classified by meteorologists and climatologists based primarily on temperature and humidity. Monthly averages of temperature and precipitation measured in meteorological stations in various parts of the world are considered.

As for the temperature, the climate can be: hot, temperate, cold and polar. As for the humidity of the air, the climate can be: super humid, humid, semi-arid and arid. The combination of these temperature and humidity variables determine the different types of climates, which are called the “thermal zones of the Earth”, they are:

• Tropical: hot climate throughout the year, with only two well-defined seasons: mild and dry winter, and hot and rainy summer;
• Equatorial: high temperatures and abundant rainfall throughout the year, with a small annual thermal amplitude. Occurs in the hottest part of the planet;
• Subtropical: abundant and well-distributed rainfall, hot summers and cold winters, with significant annual thermal amplitude.
• Temperate: It is only in temperate climate zones that clear definitions of the four seasons are found.
• Polar or Glacial:climates with low temperatures throughout the year, reaching a maximum of 10°C in the summer months.

Depending on certain locations, the climate can also be Mediterranean, desert or arid, semi-arid and cold.

The Mediterranean climate has hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. From a temperature point of view, it is very similar to tropical climates. Its pluviometric indexes are a little lower and the rains occur in autumn and winter. It is found in areas near the Mediterranean Sea (southern Europe and North Africa), southeastern Australia, the American west coast, and central Chile.

The semi-arid climate is a transitional climate, characterized by having scarce and poorly distributed rainfall throughout the year. It is found both in tropical regions (where temperatures are high all year round) and in temperate zones (where winters are cold).

List of Acronyms Related to Climate