CLIMATE
Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area. Weather can
change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, month-to-month or even year-to-year. A
region’s weather patterns, usually tracked for at least 30 years, are considered its
climate.
Climate is determined by a region’s climate system. A climate system has five
major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land
surface, and the biosphere.
The most popular system of classifying climates was proposed in 1900 by Russian-
German scientist Wladimir Köppen. According to the Köppen climate
classification system, there are five climate groups.