One of the first projects our students do is a climate map of the Untited States. They are given a list of approximately 100 locations, and they must plot each on a United States map with a colored dot. The color represents a different climate type. If you would like to try the map yourself , click here for the data, and here for the map. Either just before or just after our students do the climate map they classify the climate for the city they selected to study.
Climate classification is based on two variables - temperature and precipitation.
We use a variation of the Koppen Classification Model found in Elements of Geography by Glenn T. Trewartha and Arthur H. Robinson. A complete description of each climate type can be found by clicking here. The worksheets we use for the activity can be downloaded by clicking here. Most of them come from one site out of the University of Michigan. Our original plan was to create links to the site.