Long-term average · Long-term average, 1991–2020 (Köppen-Geiger classification, Beck et al. 2023)
Climate zones
Weather is what happens today; climate is what a place is usually like over decades. This map sorts every place on land into a climate zone using its average temperatures and rainfall through the year.
The five main groups
Tropical (A): warm all year, every month above 18 °C. Dry (B): more water evaporates than falls as rain, from deserts to grassy steppes. Temperate (C): mild winters, with the coldest month between 0 °C and 18 °C. Continental or cold (D): cold winters below 0 °C but warm summers. Polar (E): even the warmest month is below 10 °C.
Reading the letters
The second letter tells you about rain: f means rain in every season, s a dry summer, w a dry winter, m a monsoon. The third letter tells you about summer heat: a hot, b warm, c cool, d a very cold winter. Taipei is Cfa: temperate, rain all year, hot summers. London is Cfb: temperate, rain all year, warm summers.
What shapes a climate
Latitude sets how much sunlight arrives. The wind belts decide where moist air rises and rains (the tropics, the westerly storm tracks) and where dry air sinks (the deserts near 30°). Mountains block rain, and the sea keeps coasts mild. Together these explain almost the whole map.
Did you know?
The Köppen system was first published by the climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, and it is still the most widely used way to classify climates today.