Classifying Climates
Objective: The purpose of this activity is to classify the climate of various locations around the world on the basis of precipitation and temperature records.
Materials Required: Everything that you need for this exercise is included in the on-screen components.
Time Required: approximately 30 minutes
Wladimir Köppen used average monthly and annual values of temperature and precipitation as the foundation for his system of classifying world climates. Although his system has undergone some modification and refinement since he first proposed it, temperature and precipitation records still remain at the core of world climate classification. In this exercise you will examine climographs from around the world. You will then use the temperature and precipitation data in each climograph to determine that location’s climate using Köppen’s five major climate categories: tropical, arid (dry), temperate, cold (continental), and polar.
The table below includes climographs from around the world.
- Click on each name in the table below in order to view that location on the globe.
- Carefully examine the climograph for each location.
- Complete the table by matching one of Köppen’s five major climate categories to each location and climograph.
| Location | Climograph | Köppen Climate Category |
| Las Vegas, Nevada |  |
arid |
| Winnipeg, Manitoba |  |
cold |
| Copenhagen, Denmark |  |
cold |
| Istanbul, Turkey |  |
temperate |
| Calcutta, India |  |
tropical |
| Tokyo, Japan |  |
temperate |
| Darwin, Australia |  |
tropical |
| Christchurch, New Zealand |  |
temperate |
| Lima, Peru |  |
arid |
| Belém, Brazil |  |
tropical |
- Verify your answers by clicking here to see each location highlighted on the globe with Köppen’s climate categories. (Click here if you want to see all the locations at once on a Mercator projection.)