Unit 3:

Weather and Climate

Weather and Climate

Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

The weather is the situation of the

atmosphere during a short period (a day
or shorter), and a small surface of the
Earth (a city , for example). It is very
irregular and changes a lot.

The climate is the situation of the atmo-

sphere during a long period of time and a
big surface.

The elements of the climate

The climate has these elements: temperature, rainfall, pressure,
and wind. We can measure these elements.

The temperature:

We measure the atmospheric temperature with a thermometer in

Celsius degrees (ºC).

The temperature of a place changes with the latitude.

According to temperatures, the Earth is divided in five zones:

• One hot zone, located between the tropics

• Two temperate zones, located between the poles and the trop-
ics.

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

• Two cold zones, that are located in the Artic Pole and the Ant-
arctic Pole.

The temperature is how hot or cold

something is, for example the
atmosphere. Use a thermometer to see

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

how many degrees Celsius/centigrade it is above or below freezing

(0ºC).
To be able to identify a climate you need to describe the temperature
of the
hottest and de coldest months and the temperature range.

Rain
Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air
cannot hold it. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the
earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

We need a rain gauge to measure precipitations. It shows (in

millimetres) the quantity of water fallen during a period of time: a
day, a month…

Precipitation is the moisture

that falls from the air to the
ground. The most common
form of precipitation is rain

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

snow or hail.
To identify a climate you also
need to describe the total
amount of annual rainfall that
is how many millimetres fall in a year.

Pressure

Atmospheric pressure (or air pressure) is the weight of air on the

earth's surface.We measure pressure with a barometer.
Meteorologists use the milibar as a unit of measure.

The atmospheric pressure depends on air temperature and

altitude.The average air pressure at sea level is 1013 mb.

When pressure is higher than 1013 mb in a certain area of the Earth,

it is called a high pressure. If it is lower than 1013 mb, it is called low
pressure.

We show pressure on a weather map with lines called isobars. Iso-

bars match points with equal pressure.

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

THE WIND

Wind is air in motion. Two factors are necessary to specify wind:

speed and direction. We measure the speed of the wind with an an-
emometer.

EXERCISES

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

CLIMOGRAPH 1

A climograph shows the temperatures (line ) and the amount of

precipitation (bars ) for the months of one year.

1. Work in pairs. Look at the climograph and make sentences:

The X axis the months of the year

The Y axis on the left represents temperature in ºC
The Y axis on the right shows precipitation in mm

2. Look at the climograph and answer the questions

a) What is the temperature in May?

b) What is the amount of precipitation in December?
c) What is the hottest month?
d) What is the coldest month?
e) What is the wettest month?
f) What is the driest month?
g) The data in the climograph is taken from which hemisphere?

3. Work in pairs. Write 4 characteristics of this climate.

CLIMOGRAPH 2

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

1. __________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________

VOCABULARY
Weather Wind
Climate Measure
Rainfall Degree
Pressure Poles
Temperature Tropics

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Ciencias Sociales Bilingual Section
of
1º E.S.O I.E.S. Guadiana

Sea level Condense

Isobar Amount
Above Hail
Below Average
Thermometer Range
Anemometer Speed
Barometer Climograph
Precipitation Axis
Rain gauge Data