The Brusque Answer:

There are approximately five main climate types on Globe:

  • Tropical
  • Dry
  • Temperate
  • Continental
  • Polar

Climate is the average weather condition conditions in a place over a long period of fourth dimension—30 years or more. And as you probably already know, there are lots of different types of climates on Earth.

For example, hot regions are commonly closest to the equator. The climate is hotter there because the Sun'due south light is well-nigh directly overhead at the equator. And the Due north and S Poles are cold because the Sun'south light and heat are least straight in that location.

A photo of snow-covered mountains

The snowfall-covered peaks of the Chigmit Range during winter. Credit: NPS/M. Cahill 2015

Using this information, in the tardily 1800s and early on 1900s a German climate scientist named Wladimir Koppen divided the world'southward climates into categories. His categories were based on the temperature, the amount of precipitation, and the times of year when precipitation occurs. The categories were also influenced by a region'south latitude—the imaginary lines used to measure our Earth from north to s from the equator.

Today, climate scientists separate the Earth into approximately five main types of climates. They are:

A: Tropical. In this hot and humid zone, the boilerplate temperatures are greater than 64°F (xviii°C) yr-round and there is more than than 59 inches of precipitation each year.

B: Dry. These climate zones are and then dry because moisture is rapidly evaporated from the air and there is very niggling precipitation.

C: Temperate. In this zone, in that location are typically warm and humid summers with thunderstorms and mild winters.

D. Continental. These regions have warm to cool summers and very cold winters. In the winter, this zone tin feel snowstorms, strong winds, and very cold temperatures—sometimes falling below -22°F (-thirty°C)!

E: Polar. In the polar climate zones, information technology'southward extremely cold. Even in summertime, the temperatures here never go higher than 50°F (10°C)!

This is roughly where those climate zones appear on a globe:

An illustration of a globe with latitude and longitude lines

What does a map of climate zones actually wait like?

Distance to the equator is only one office of an area'southward climate. Things similar the motility of the oceans and Earth'due south tilt and rotation besides affect how weather patterns motion around the globe.

If yous classify the United States into climate zones using all of this information, it actually looks something similar this:

An illustration of climate zones on a US map

This is an illustration of the climate zones within the United States. The actress climate zone, labeled "H" on this map, is a special zone chosen the highlands. The highlands climate zone is characterized past atmospheric condition that differs from the surrounding expanse because of mountains. Credit: NOAA (modified)

How can data most climate zones be used?

Climate zones can be useful for gardening and farming. Plants grow best in the climate conditions that are plant in their native ecosystem. For case, if you want to institute an apple orchard in your backyard, you should first check to see which varieties of apples are a good lucifer for your region's climate.

A map of plant hardiness zones in the United States

This is called a Constitute Hardiness Zone map. It'southward a specific blazon of climate zone map that can help you figure out what kinds of plants volition survive in your back thou. Epitome credit: USDA/Agricultural Inquiry Service/Oregon State University

How exercise weather satellites play a role?

Weather satellites generally help with tracking conditions that are happening right now and forecasting conditions in the well-nigh future. However, they also collect data that helps the states monitor a region's climate over fourth dimension.

For case, satellites in the GOES-R series—short for Geostationary Operational Ecology Satellite-R—tin can monitor the sea surface temperature and the Gulf Stream, a powerful current in the Atlantic Ocean. Both of these things can influence a region'due south climate.

In addition, the temperature of the land becomes cooler at dark, and there are changes in the corporeality of clouds. The GOES-R series satellites monitor cloudiness and land surface temperature—information that helps scientists to understand how the differences between twenty-four hour period and night can affect a region's climate.

Satellites in the Articulation Polar Satellite System (JPSS) can too provide information on differences betwixt 24-hour interval and nighttime. For example, JPSS orbits World twice a day in what's chosen an afternoon orbit. As the satellite orbits from North Pole to South Pole, information technology captures observations in the afternoon on one side of World and observations of the early on morning time on the other side of the planet.

While JPSS orbits, the satellites provide global observations of many other variables that influence climate such every bit atmospheric temperature and water vapor, snow and ice embrace, vegetation, sea and land surface temperature, atmospheric precipitation and more. These add important data to our records of regional differences in Earth'south climate.