The most important factor that influences the climate of a place is its distance from the equator – the imaginary line around the centre of the Earth. Places further away from the equator are usually cooler than places that are nearer. This is because the Sun’s light is spread over a larger area towards the Earth’s poles and it has to travel through more of the atmosphere to get there.
Climate and the sea
Places far from the sea, or hidden from the sea by great mountain ranges, often have very little rainfall – the air reaching them has already lost most of its moisture as rain on its journey over the land.
Places near to the sea do not usually have great temperature changes. The sea heats up much more slowly than the land and cools more slowly. Therefore, it keeps the land warm in winter and cool in summer.
Deserts often have little rainfall because they are sheltered by mountain ranges.
The climate is affected by how high up you are and where in the world you are. As you go higher, the climate becomes cooler and eventually too cold for trees to grow. Even higher, the ground is covered by snow all year round. The ‘snow line’ and ‘tree line’ become lower as you move away from the equator.
The snow line and the tree line on the side of the mountain.