Climate and weather at Higher Level: The same ideas as SL, with different places: Dubai's April 2024 storm, Mumbai's monsoon and Mount Kilimanjaro. Climate graphs come up in Paper 1 on both levels.
Practise this as you read
- Read every value with its units and its month.
- Compare two climates with numbers for each place.
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Two timescales: The weather changes from hour to hour. The climate is the long-term average that the weather varies around.
The points to remember
- Weather = the conditions in the atmosphere at one time, or over a short period (hours or days).
- Weather is described by temperature, humidity, air pressure and wind speed, plus rain and cloud.
- Climate = the average of those conditions over a long period: about 30 years.
- Climate tells you what to expect; weather is what you get on the day.
- One unusual day is weather. Biomes are shaped by climate, not by one day's weather.
Remember it as: Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.
Weather
- A short period: now, today, this week
- Measured at a place and time
- Can change within hours
Climate
- A long period: about 30 years
- The average of many measurements
- Changes only slowly
Real example: on 16 April 2024 a storm dropped about 140 mm of rain on Dubai airport in one day and flooded the city. That was weather. Dubai's climate is desert: on average it gets under 100 mm a year.
Say how long: Put the time in every definition: weather is short-term; climate is the long-term average, about 30 years. 'Climate is the weather of a place' misses both the average and the time.
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A climate graph shows a climate at a glance. Each value is an average of about 30 years.
How to read it
- Bars = mean monthly precipitation in mm, read on the left axis.
- Line = mean monthly temperature in °C, read on the right axis.
- Wettest or driest month: the tallest or shortest bar. Warmest month: the highest point.
- A range runs from the lowest value to the highest: 'from 5.8 to 19.3 °C'.
- Total annual precipitation = the 12 bars added together.
- Always give the units (°C, mm) and name the month.
Real example: Mumbai gets 840 mm in July alone, and almost nothing from December to April: this is the monsoon. May is the warmest month (30.1 °C); monthly temperatures range from 24.4 to 30.1 °C.
A range has two ends: When asked for a range, give both ends with units: 'from 5.8 to 19.3 °C'. The difference alone (13.5 °C) is not always accepted; both ends always are. Read values carefully: a number close to the graph's is not enough.
Papers often give two climate graphs and ask you to compare or distinguish them. Build the answer from numbers, one place at a time.
How to compare two climates
- Compare precipitation: the yearly total, and when most of it falls.
- Compare temperature: the warmest and coldest months, and the annual range.
- Use comparing words: wetter, drier, warmer, a greater range.
- Quote numbers from the graph for both places.
- Make one point about each place: a mark is often kept for each one.
| Mumbai | Dubai | |
|---|---|---|
| Total precipitation | 2,399 mm | 94 mm |
| Wettest month | July, 840 mm | February, 25 mm |
| Warmest month | May, 30.1 °C | August, 36.2 °C |
| Coldest month | January, 24.4 °C | January, 19.7 °C |
| Annual temperature range | 5.7 °C | 16.5 °C |
Real example: Mumbai's rain comes almost all in four monsoon months. Dubai, in the desert, gets less than a twentieth of Mumbai's rain and is hotter in summer, with a much greater temperature range.
Compare, do not just describe: 'Dubai is hot and dry' describes one place. Write 'Dubai gets 94 mm a year, far less than Mumbai's 2,399 mm'. 'Warmer' or 'drier' alone, with no numbers, is not enough.
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Climate also changes with height. Air gets thinner and colder as you climb, so mountains have cooler climates than the lowlands around them.
The points to remember
- Temperature falls as altitude rises: about 6.5 °C for every 1,000 m.
- So one mountain can run from subtropical at its foot to alpine (cold) at the top.
- Precipitation changes with height too: slopes facing the rain-bearing wind are wetter.
- On two maps, state the relationship: 'as elevation increases, temperature decreases'.
Remember it as: Up 1,000 m, down about 6.5 °C.
Real example: at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, the town of Moshi (about 800 m) averages about 23 °C. The summit, 5,895 m high, is below freezing for most of the year and still has glaciers.
State the pattern: With an elevation map and a climate map, one sentence earns the mark: 'as elevation increases, the climate becomes colder, from subtropical in the valleys to alpine on the peaks'. Naming one zone's height is not a pattern.
How this comes up: Paper 1, question 1: two climate graphs from the resource booklet. Distinguish between the two climates [2].
Figure 1 shows climate graphs for Mumbai, India, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
With reference to Figure 1, distinguish between the climates of Mumbai and Dubai.
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