GeographyClimate: why the world's weather differs30 min★★ difficulty

The world's climate zones

Weather is today; climate is the pattern over thirty years. This lesson explains why the Earth has hot, cold, wet and dry belts — and how they have shifted since the last Ice Age.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand weather and climate, including the change in climate from the Ice Age to the present

Key learning points

• The angle of the Sun
• Wet and dry belts
• Reading a climate graph
• Since the Ice Age

This lesson at a glance

30 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
Marked quiz at the end
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

weatherclimatechangepresentreading

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

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Part 1 of 19

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The world's climate zones

An English teaching video on this topic from Crash Course Kids. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand weather and climate, including the change in climate from the Ice Age to the present

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You know the Equator is hot and the poles are cold.

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

weather: The day-to-day condition of the atmosphere.
climate: The average weather of a place over about 30 years.
climate zone: A large area with a similar climate, such as tropical or polar.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Why zones exist

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

The angle of the Sun

At the Equator the Sun is high, so its energy is concentrated on a small area — hot. Near the poles the Sun is low and the same energy spreads thinly over a larger area — cold. That single idea explains the tropical, temperate and polar bands.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Wet and dry belts

Hot air rises at the Equator, cools and drops its rain: rainforests. It sinks again around 30° north and south, where sinking air is dry: the Sahara and Australian deserts. The UK sits in the temperate zone, mild and wet thanks to winds off the Atlantic.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Climate is...

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

The poles are cold mainly because...

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Change over time

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Reading a climate graph

Bars show monthly rainfall; a line shows temperature. A rainforest graph has tall bars all year and a flat line near 27°C. A desert graph has tiny bars and a line that swings. Describe the pattern, quote the highest and lowest figures, then explain.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Since the Ice Age

20,000 years ago ice sheets covered much of Britain and sea levels were about 120 m lower — you could walk to France. Natural warming melted the ice by about 11,700 years ago. Today's warming is faster, and caused mainly by people burning fossil fuels.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Many hot deserts are found near...

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

During the last Ice Age sea levels were...

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 19

Evidence 1 of 1

primary

Climate data for two cities at the same latitude

Met Office climate records, 30-year averages

London (51°N): January average 5°C, July 19°C, rain 600 mm spread across the year. Calgary, Canada (51°N): January −7°C, July 17°C, rain 420 mm, mostly in summer storms.

Two places on the same line of latitude can have very different climates. Distance from the sea, ocean currents and prevailing winds matter as much as how far north you are.

Think like a historian

Both cities sit at 51°N, yet Calgary's winters are far colder. Using the data and what you know about the sea, explain the difference.

Source: Long-term meteorological records, published for public use.

View the archive record ↗

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Mixing up weather and climate.
Thinking deserts are always hot — Antarctica is a desert too.
Describing a climate graph without quoting any numbers.

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: The world's climate zones

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

1. On a climate graph, rainfall is usually shown as...
2. The UK's climate zone is...
3. Climate is...
4. The poles are cold mainly because...

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

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Games

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Points this lesson

Best run

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Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

Climate data for two cities at the same latitude

primary

Met Office climate records, 30-year averages

London (51°N): January average 5°C, July 19°C, rain 600 mm spread across the year. Calgary, Canada (51°N): January −7°C, July 17°C, rain 420 mm, mostly in summer storms.

Two places on the same line of latitude can have very different climates. Distance from the sea, ocean currents and prevailing winds matter as much as how far north you are.

Source: Long-term meteorological records, published for public use.

View the original record ↗

Case study notes
Writing
Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.
Half a page
Explain answer
Writing
Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.
8–10 sentences
Map or sketch
Diagram
Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.
1 map with a key
Data work
Working out
Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.
1 graph + 1 sentence

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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