What Is A Tropical Climate?
A tropical climate is one of the 5 types of climate according to the Koppen Climate Classification. Any place that falls under the tropical climate classification will have its climate type start with an (A) in the Koppen Climate classification. The other four types of climates are dry (B), temperate (C), continental (D), and polar (E). A dry climate typically experiences little to no precipitation. Temperate and continental climates generally indicate four distinct seasons, with temperate climates generally being warmer than continental climates. Polar climates are generally quite cold throughout the year.
Tropical climates are generally the warmest of the bunch by a fair amount. A temperate climate is one where the average temperature in each month is 18 °C (64°F) in every month of a standard year, and where there is enough precipitation to leave it out of the dry category. This type of climate is very common close to the equator and is found in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Due to the temperature being so warm year-round, tropical climates do not have four clear, distinct seasons that are usually found in other climates, especially temperate and continental climates. Instead, they generally have only two seasons, which are differentiated by the amount of precipitation that they receive. As a result, these seasons are referred to as the rainy season and the dry season. Common types of vegetation include bamboo, bananas, coconut trees, rosewood, elephant grass, eucalyptus trees and whistling thorn trees.
What Are The Subcategories Of A Tropical Climate?
There are four different subcategories of tropical climate. The first is a rainforest climate, which has the most rain. The three with less rain are monsoon, savanna dry winter, and savanna dry summer, each of which has less precipitation than rainforest, but has differing amounts and ratios of precipitation when compared to each other.
What Is A Tropical Rainforest Climate?
A tropical rainforest climate (Af) is one of the four types of tropical climate. If a place meets two thresholds, it is deemed a tropical rainforest. The first threshold is the need that all tropical climates have: an average temperature of 18 °C (64°F) in every month, even the coldest month of the year. Note that this is in an average year, not the most recent year. The threshold needed for a tropical rainforest specifically is that each month needs to have an average of 60 mm of precipitation. Also, it should be noted that a rainforest climate isn’t limited to just forests. If a city meets both of these thresholds, it is considered a tropical rainforest.
What Is A Tropical Monsoon Climate?
A tropical monsoon climate (Am) is the second of the four types of tropical climate. Like every other tropical climate, it must have an average temperature of 18 °C (64 °F) every month. However, it has less precipitation than a tropical rainforest. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation on average, but has more than 100 – X/25 mm of precipitation on average, where X is the total amount of precipitation in mm. This means it is less rainy year-round than a rainforest climate, but still has more rain in its driest month than either of the tropical savanna climates.
What Is A Tropical Savanna Climate?
There are two types of tropical savanna climates, dry winter (Aw) and dry summer (As), which are the 3rd and fourth types of tropical climate. They both have the same temperature requirements as the others, as well as a precipitation-based one. The amount of precipitation in the driest month on average is less than 100 – X/25 mm of precipitation on average, where X is the total amount of precipitation in mm. Depending on when that month is, it is regarded as either a dry winter (if that month is from October to March) or a dry summer ( if that month is from April to September). This often means that during a dry season, there are droughts.
Does Any Part Of Canada Have A Tropical Climate?
Due to the large distance between even the most southern parts of Canada and the equator, no place within Canada has a tropical climate.
Where Else Is There A Tropical Climate?
Most places with this type of climate are located very close to the equator, usually being in or near Central America, as well as parts of Africa, and places in Asia and Oceania that are near the equator. Some major cities around the world with this type of climate are as follows:
Tropical Rainforest Climate (Af): Buenaventura (Columbia), Columbo (Sri Lanka), Davao City (Philippines), Fort Lauderdale (USA), Higüey (Dominican Republic), Iquitos (Peru), Kisumu (Kenya), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kuching (Malaysia), Manaus (Brazil), Medan (Indonesia), Padang (Indonesia), Salvador (Brazil), Toamasina (Madagascar), West Palm Beach (USA).
Tropical Monsson Climate (Am): Alor Setar (Melaysia), Aracaju (Brazil), Bandung (Indonesia), Cali (Columbia), Coatzacoalcos (Mexico), Conakry (Guinea), Da Nang (Vietnam), Miami (USA), Monrovia (Liberia), Pucallpa (Peru), San Juan (USA), Villahermosa (Mexico).
Tropical Savanna, Dry Summer (As): Chennai (India), Fortaleza (Brazil), Mombasa (Kenya), Natal (Brazil), Nha Trang (Vietnam).
Tropical Savanna, Dry Winter (Aw): Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Abuja (Nigeria), Bamako (Mali), Bangkok (Thailand), Barranquilla (Columbia), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Bengaluru (India), Brasília (Brazil), Caracas (Venezuela), Darwin (Australia), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kigali (Rwanda), Naypyidaw (Myanmar), Panama City (Panama), Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), San Jose (Costa Rica), San Salvador (El Salvador), Yaoundé (Cameroon).