Text adapted from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/hi/country_guides/newsid_9383000/9383718.

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Wind speed
and direction

10

Maximum daily
temperature

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Humidity

MAP

25%

Minimum daily
temperature

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MAP

Glaciers covered with snow extend to the coast which is

fringed by large areas of pack and drift ice. During the long
Antarctic winter conditions outdoors often reach or exceed
the limits of human tolerance through the combination of low
temperature and wind. Virtually all precipitation in Antarctica
is snow. During calm, sunny days in summer, particularly on
the coast, temperatures rise above freezing point.

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-13

Alaska, USA

MAP

Senegal has a tropical climate

with a single short rainy
season between June and
September at the time of high
sun. Temperatures are high
throughout the year but there
is a relatively cooler period
from December to April during
which rain is very rare.

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23

25%

During the wet season, the

winds are warm and humid
from the southwest and west,
blowing from the South
Atlantic. During the dry
season, when they blow from
the northeast out of the
Sahara they are dry and
frequently dust-laden.

Matam, Senegal

MAP

Here lies the Atlantic tundra region, covered with snow for
eight to nine months of the year. Temperatures can rise to
quite high levels during the short summer. For much of the
summer, however, the weather can be changeable and
disturbed. Snow and frost may occur in any month.
Wind chill a combination of low
temperature and high wind- is a frequent,
and probably the most dangerous,
weather hazard in northern Canada.
-14

-22

82%

13

Igloolik, Canada

Southern France has a Mediterranean-type climate. summers are

MAP warm, or even hot, with a three-month period when rain rarely falls.
When it does rain at this season it is heavy and often associated
with thunder. Sunshine is abundant, as much as eleven to twelve
hours a day in summer and five in midwinter. Winters are generally
mild and sunny but this pleasant weather is often interrupted by very
changeable cold and blustery weather brought by a northerly wind
called the mistral.

18

77%

10

Port Vendres,
France

The Amazon Basin has the climate of

an equatorial lowland with few
differences from place to place. Rainfall
is everywhere above 1,500 mm a year
and in much of the region over 2,000
mm. There is no real dry season but
there are some variations in the period
of the year when most rain falls.
Temperatures are typically tropical in all
months with average midday
temperatures in the range 27C - 32C.
Frost is unknown. The high humidity
and the monotony of the temperature
from day to day make this area
unpleasant for those unfamiliar with it.

MAP

30

24

97%

Amazon rainforest,
Brazil

MAP

The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is the world's second driest

region (icy Antarctica is first). Although the Tropic of Capricorn
passes through the region, the Atacama desert lies in the rain
shadow of Chile's Coast Range, which squeezes out the moisture
from the atmosphere. The desert is completely barren and while
most areas only receive moisture from an occasional fog or a
shower every few decades, the rain gauge at Calama has never
recorded any measurable precipitation. The Atacama is a high and
cold desert, average temperatures range from 0 to 25 Celsius.

21

10

66%

14

Atacama desert,
Chile

Weather is generally cool to mild with frequent cloud and

rain, but occasional settled spells of weather occur at all
seasons. As a general rule the western side of Britain is
cloudier, wetter, and milder in winter, with cooler summers
than the east. Snow may occur anywhere in Britain in
winter or even spring but, except on the hills, it rarely lies
for more than a few days.

MAP

10

98%

London, UK

In Hungary there is a considerable difference between

summer and winter. Summers or winters, however, may
differ considerably from one year to another. Summer
drought or wetness may persist for a whole season, while
some winters may be particularly cold and snowy.

MAP

Spring and early summer

are generally the wetter time
of year. Winters are usually
cold and snow lies on the
ground for between thirty
and forty days on average.
The Danube is often
completely frozen over
during severe cold spells.

14

40%

Budapest,
Hungary

The summers are warm and humid on the coast and

the winters are mild on the Eastern Cape of South
Africa. Rainfall is well distributed around the year and
disturbed weather can occur in both winter and
summer.

MAP

21

16

91%

13

Port Elisabeth,
South Africa

MAP

The continent of Antarctica is the Earth's most southerly

region, and is the largest area in the world with a
permanent ice cap. Glaciers covered with snow extend to
the coast which is fringed by large areas of pack and drift
ice. The weather is changeable throughout the year.
During the long Antarctic winter conditions outdoors often
reach or exceed the limits of human tolerance through the
combination of low temperature and wind. 0.03%
average humidity combined with the extreme cold make
the South Pole region the world's driest desert.

-43

-58

70%

Antarctica

In the Russian Federation climate ranges

from cold Arctic conditions to hot desert
and subtropical lands where tea and rice
are grown. The dominant feature of
Russian weather and climate is the
extreme cold of winter, which prevails in
all but a small part of the south of the
country. temperatures in summer are quite
warm, even during the short summers in
northern and eastern Siberia. There is a
rapid rise of temperature in spring, the
season of the thaw and an equally rapid
fall of temperature in the autumn. In effect,
over much of the country there are only
two seasons, winter and summer. This is a
characteristic feature of what
climatologists call a continental climate.

MAP

-10

60%

Moscow,
Russian Federation

Compared to the surrounding area, winter is milder and summer is

MAP cooler on Lake Baikal. The average air temperature is about -19 oC in
January and February and about +11oC in August. The surface-water
temperature on the open part of the lake in August is +9 to 12 oC, and
near the shore it is sometimes as high as +20oC. Lake Baikal usually
freezes in January and the ice breaks in May. The ice is 70-115cm
thick. The average annual precipitation in the middle and the north of
Baikal is 200-350mm but it is 500-900mm in the south.

-12

48%

Lake Baikal,
Russian Federation

MAP

With a subarctic climate, Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest
inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from 19C
in July to 40C in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the
planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana river to the
northeast of Yakutsk. Although winters are long and extremely cold,
summers are warm (though rather short), with daily maximum temperatures
occasionally exceeding 32C making the seasonal temperature differences
for the region among the greatest in the world. The climate is quite dry, with
maximum precipitation occurring in the summer months.
-2

-13

74%

14

Yakutsk,
Russian Federation

MAP

India is a large country with a wide variety of climatic conditions.

These range from permanent snowfields to tropical coastlands;
from areas of virtual desert in the northwest plains to fertile,
intensively cultivated rice fields in the northeast.
The climate of India is dominated by the great wind system
known as the Asiatic monsoon. From June to October the country
is influenced by the moist, rain-bearing monsoon from the
southwest. On some mountain ranges, facing the sea, rainfall can
be very heavy indeed. From March to May the climate becomes
hotter and hotter and the drought continues. The rains only come
when the wind turns again to the southwest.

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21

70%

10

Mumbai, India

The climate of Japan around the year

is much influenced by the great
seasonal wind reversal of the Asian
monsoon. The Japanese islands have
a climate modified and moderated by
the sea; winters are less cold than in
the same latitude on the continent,
and precipitation is much heavier. In
summer and early autumn much of the
heavy rain is brought by typhoons, or
tropical cyclones. In most places in
Japan the daily sunshine amounts are
only moderate because of the humid
atmosphere and abundant rain. Spring
is perhaps the most pleasant season
in Japan; the weather is usually warm
and sunny.

MAP

17

57%

Osaka, Japan

MAP

Apart from the reduced temperatures on the higher mountains, the

weather and climate of Indonesia are typical of equatorial regions.
Rainfall is almost everywhere heavy and well distributed around the
year. Much of the rainfall is heavy and accompanied by thunder.
Some parts of Indonesia have more thunderstorms than anywhere
else in the world. In spite of the heavy rainfall, sunshine hours are
abundant in Indonesia. During the wetter months sunshine
averages four to five hours a day, rising to eight or nine hours a day
during drier periods. Temperatures remain high throughout the
year and there is very little difference from month to month.

31

23

82%

14

Java, Indonesia

MAP

The wettest districts of Australia form a crescent around the

'dry heart' of the country. In the north and northeast, where
temperatures are tropical, rainfall follows the sun and there
is a very clear maximum fall at the time of high sun between
November and April. At this season winds on the north coast
are from the northwest: the Australian monsoon. Tropical
cyclones occur two or three times each year in the seas to
the northeast and northwest of Australia.

31

24

91%

23

Cairns, Australia