3º ESO. Units 6 & 7: How to make and interpret climate diagrams.

How to make a climate diagram

A climate diagram is a graph that reflects the climate in a place.

1. Draw the months on the  horizontal line.  Use a scale so that 5 mm represents one month.
2. Draw two vertical lines: put temperature on the left line and make 1 cm represent 10°C. Put precipitation on the right line and make 1 cm represent 20mm rainfall.
3. Mark on the temperature data and connect the data together with one red line.
4. Mark on the precipitation data and draw 12 separated blue columns.   

How to interpret a climate diagram

For interpreting a climate diagram you have to answer these questions:

•  What is the average temperature in the hottest month? and in the coldest month? What is the range of temperature? The range of temperature is the numerical difference between the minimum and maximum values of temperature observed in a given location.

          An insignificant range of temperature is <5ºC (Range of temperature for Equatorial climate is this one)

          A low range of temperature is <10ºC. (This is the range for Tropical climates)

          A medium range of temperature is between 10 and 18ºC (Oceanic's range is around 10ºC)

          A high range of temperature is >18ºC (Continental climate's range is >20ºC)

•  How is the rainfall distributed through the year? What month or season are the most humid? And the driest ones? Are there arid months? Arid months  are months when the temperature line is higher than the precipitation line. These months are dry.  Humid months are months when the precipitation line is higher than the temperature 
• Which type of climate do you think this climate diagram is? Where is it located in? (Location: northern or southern hemisphere, coastal or inland, geografical region, etc)
•  Which type of vegetation is the most common in this place?

Information taken from Wikipedia and http://ieslamadraza.com/elena/websociales/geography3eso/climate/climate3.html

Example:

The hottest month is August, with 24ºC and the coldest month is January with 13ºC, so this is a climate from the northern hemisphere. The range of temperature, 11.8ºC is a moderate one, almost a low one.
There are five arid months, being July the driest month, with no precipitation at all. The driest months are November, December and January.
This climate is a Mediterranean one for these reasons: the annual average temperature is 18.2ºC so it is in the range of this climate's annual temperatures, which are between 10ºC-20ªC and also the range of temperature is the appropiate for a  Mediterranean climate ; the annual precipitation, 606mm, is also within the range (300mm-1000mm) and precipitation fall in all seasons except summer.
As this range of temperature is a low one and winters are so mild (the coldest month is 13ºC ), this Mediterranean climate is a coastal one with a very dry summer (July and August).

Mediterranean climates are located in the Temperate Zone, arround the Mediterranean coast, also in the western coast of continents, such as California, Chile and in some regions of the coast of South Africa and Australia.