Geography test Flashcards
What is weather?
The state of the air and atmosphere at a particular time and place. This could be sun, cloud, snow, hail or temperatures such as warm and cold.
What is climate?
What you expect the weather to be. But it always changes, can be unpredictable.
What is microclimate?
The climate of a very small or restricted area, especially when this differs from the climate of the surrounding area.
What is the impact of Maritime climates across the UK?
Maritime weather has two considerable differences between them. Tropical maritime air brings mild conditions in winter or warm conditions in summer. Polar maritime is the opposite, cool air conditions in summer and cold conditions in winter. Both air masses travel over ocean before it hits land.
What is the impact of continental climates across the UK?
There are two types of continental weather that affect the UK, polar and Tropical continental weather both of which are similar. Polar continental brings very cold but dry conditions during the winter and tropical continental weather can bring hot and dry conditions. Both weather patterns travel across land before hitting the UK.
Reasons why rainfall varies across the UK?
Altitude affects precipitation as air forced to rise over a mountain will condense, form clouds and rain in mountainous areas. This is called relief rainfall. The North Atlantic Drift, or Gulf Stream, is an ocean current that brings warm water to the west coast of the UK.
What are factors that influences of microclimates?
Concrete, brick and tarmac all absorb heat from the sun during the day. This heat is then radiated into the atmosphere during the evening and at night. During the summer months, the extra heat due to the heat island causes air to rise over large cities. This can lead to convectional rainstorms - usually on hot afternoons.
