There are several elements that make up the weather and climate of a place. The major of these elements are five: temperature, pressure, wind, humidity and rain. Analysis of these elements can provide the basis for forecasting weather.
These same elements make also the basis of climatology study, of course, within a different time scale rather than it does in meteorology.
Modifying factors of weather and climate[edit]
The more important are also five: latitude, altitude, distance to the ocean and/ or sea, orientation of mountain ranges toward prevailing winds and ocean currents.
See also[edit]
Climate
Climatology
Extreme weather
Meteorology
Outline of meteorology
Weather
References[edit]
^ Arthur Newell Strahler. Physical Geography. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1960, Second Edition, p. 185
^ F. J. Monkhouse. A Dictionary of Geography. London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., 1978 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html Description[edit]
The Sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in oceans and seas. Water evaporates as water vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapor. Evapotranspiration is water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil. Rising air currents take the vapor up into the atmosphere where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move water vapor around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the upper atmospheric layers as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow or hail, sleet, and can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Most water falls back into the oceans or onto land as rain, where the water flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff and groundwater are stored as freshwater in lakes. Not all runoff flows into
References: ^ F. J. Monkhouse. A Dictionary of Geography. London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., 1978 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html