Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 66.231.38.97 (talk) at 06:28, 25 July 2005 (qualification). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A continental climate is the climate typical of the middle-latitude interiors of the large continents of the Northern Hemisphere; similar climates exist along the east coasts (but not the west coasts) of the same continents, and also at higher elevations in certain other parts of the world. This climate is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of stable snow cover each year, and relatively low precipitation occurring mostly in summer - although east coast areas (chiefly in North America) may show an even distribution of precipitation. Only a few areas in Iran, adjacent Turkey and Central Asia show a winter maximum in precipitation, which typically melts in early spring to give short-lived floods.

The Midwestern United States and most of Russia are examples of areas of the world with continental climates, which do not exist at all in the Southern Hemisphere due to the lack of broad land masses at middle latitudes, the southernmost parts of Africa and Australia being under marine influences and southern South America beiong too narrow in breadth to allow alr masses as cold as those in corresponding latitudes in North America and Asia to form in the winter. Antarctica, of course, lies completely outside the middle latitudes.

See also: microthermal climate, hemiboreal climate, subarctic climate, humid continental. Compare oceanic climate, Mediterranean climate.

• Climate