U S A : C l i m a t e  &  W e a t h e r

» Because of its multitudes location and vast size, the United States experiences a wide variety of climates. At one extreme are the tropical islands of Hawaii ; at the other, the arctic conditions of northern Alaska . The majority of Americans live between these two extremes in a group of climatic regions with unique moisture and temperature patterns. Geographers have traditionally divided the 48 contiguous United States into two broad patterns of continental climate: the humid East and the arid West. The dividing line most often used is 100 degrees west longitude, an imaginary north-south line extending through the Great Plains from Texas to North Dakota .SA climatic transition zone occurs on either side of the 100 degrees west longitude line. The eastern woodlands gradually give way to tall grass prairies, which in turn give way to steppes, where short grasses flourish. Few natural tall grass prairies exist today on the Plains. Over the past few centuries, farmers cultivated and planted most of the region with corn or wheat.

» The eastern part of the United States includes two climate types: Humid Continental and Subtropical. Humid Continental is the largest climate type in the United States . It has two subtypes: those areas with hot summers and those with warm summers. The Humid Continental climates are transitional climates between the severe Subarctic climate region in Canada and the warmer Humid Subtropical region of the southern and southeastern United States . These climates are battlegrounds between cold polar air masses surging southward and tropical air moving northward. Humid Continental climates have four distinct seasons and large variations in temperature. They are warm in summer and cold enough to sustain winter snow for some months.

    

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