The Koppen Climate Classification System is the most widely used climate classification system.
Its categories are based on the yearly and monthly average temperature and precipitation. This system divides the Earth’s climate into five climate groups, each given a letter. A is for tropical moist climates. B is for dry climates. C is for moist mid-latitude climates with mild winters. D is for moist mid-latitude climates with cold winters.
E is for Polar climates with extremely cold winters and summers. All climates except for E are assigned a seasonal precipitation subgroup, this is the second letter. The Koppen Climate Classification System was published by Wladimir Koppen, a Russian-German climatologist, in 1884. Since then it has been modified and updated by Koppen and others. The absolute location of Kozhikode, India is 11.2588° N, 75.7804° E.
Kozhikode is located on the southwest coast of India and is about 410 kilometers. It is a low, flat, narrow, midland city. The eastern edge of the city rises about 15 meters. On the western side of the city lies the Laccadive Sea. This city is characterized by lagoons and backwaters and receives a lot of runoff from the rivers that border it. Beach ridges, sandbars, and backwater marshes are also common landforms.
In terms of topography, there are three regions. The regions are the rocky highlands, the sandy region, and lateritic midland. The absolute location of Salt Lake, Utah is 40.7608° N, 111.8910° W. Salt Lake City is located in north-central Utah in a large valley called the Salt Lake Valley. It has a total area of 285.9 kilometers squared and only 3.3 kilometers squared of that total is water. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the Great Salt Lakes on the fourth.
The Wasatch Mountains are to the east and north while the Oquirrh Mountains border the west. The valley floors at the base of the mountains are relatively built up. The soil of the valley is mostly clay and sand. There are also some marshlands and mudflats that border the northwestern side of the city. According to the Koppen Climate Classification system, Salt Lake City is classified as “Dfa”, which means hot-summer humid continental climate.
It is classified as this because it has hot summers and cold, snow filled winters. On the other hand, Kozhikode is classified as “Am”, which means tropical monsoon climate; sometimes called tropical wet climate. This city has a humid and tropical climate with high temperatures the majority of the year. Salt Lake City experiences all four seasons, spring, fall, winter, and summer. During the spring it gets warmer in the valley; however, snow is still common in the mountains. The average high temperatures in the valley during the spring months are: 53 degrees in March 61 in April, and 70 in May.
During the fall, it is a season of transition, similar to Ohio. Temperatures are warmer during the day and drop to a chillier degree during the evening and night. Snow does sometimes start to arrive during the fall months. The average high temperatures during these months are 78 degrees in September, 65 degrees in October, and 50 degrees in November. Winter is cold, but not excruciating.
It rarely falls below 0 degrees. The average high temperatures for the winter months are 40 degrees in December, 39 degrees in January, and 44 degrees in February. Summers in Salt Lake City are very hot and often reach 100 degrees in the valley. The mountains are often cooler in temperature by about 20 degrees; but still hot. The average high temperatures for the summer months are 82 degrees in June, 89 degrees in July, and 88 degrees in August.
On average, Salt Lake City gets 18 inches of rain per year. The month that receives the most rainfall is May while the driest is July. This city gets about 62 inches of snow per year with the snowiest month being December. There are on average 222 sunny days per year with July being the hottest and sunniest month. Cloud coverage of Salt Lake varies depending on the season.
Skies are usually pretty clear during the summer months and cloud cover starts during October, lasting all the way until June again. When it comes to wind, this also varies depending on the season. The windier parts of the year are from February to July with an average wind speed of 6.1 miles per hour. The least windy time of the year is from July to February with an average wind speed of 5.3 miles per hour. Kozhikode, India is a little different when it comes to their “seasons”.
Rather than experiencing four different seasons like Salt Lake City does, Kozhikode has a hot season and a cool season. The hot season is from mid-February to the end of May with an average daily temperature of 91 degrees or more. The cool season is from mid-June to mid-September with an average daily temperature of 86 degrees. The hottest day of the year is usually April 23rd at 93 degrees while the coolest day of the year is January 1st at 75 degrees. The temperature in this city does not fluctuate much and stays relatively hot all year round. Kozhikode gets on average 120.6 inches of rainfall each year.
June gets the most precipitation with an average of 32.1 inches each year. January and February are generally dry months and receive on average .1 inch of rain. Because the temperature stays so high here, there is no snowfall. Cloud coverage depends on the season. November through mid-April are the clearer parts of the year while the cloudiest months of the year are from mid-April to November.
Wind speed also depends on the season. The windier part of the year is from mid-May to the end of September with an average wind speed of 7.3 miles per hour. The least windy time of the year is from the end of September to mid-May with an average wind speed of 4.6 miles per hour. The phenomena El Nino and La Nina affect precipitation in Salt Lake City; bringing occasional droughts and floods.
Along with that, temperature inversions often occur in the Salt Lake valley. These mostly strike during mid-winter and last anywhere from a few days to weeks. These inversions cause cold, foggy, hazy conditions with sunny and warm conditions in the mountains. They trap valley air pollutants as well which is harmful. What causes these is when strong areas of high pressure remain over the Great Basin; a cold front is usually needed to rid of this high pressure. The city of Kozhikode gets hit by a pre-monsoon mango showers during April.
This helps to cause the humid tropical climate and higher temperatures. Despite that Utah is such a dry state, it still has a variety of different landscapes. With a variety of landscapes comes a variety of habitats for many different animals of all sizes. Large animals native to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah are bighorn sheep, bison, moose, elk, mule, deer, and mountain goats. There are also a variety of bears such as the grizzly and black bears.
Some of the smaller animals are foxes, cactus mice, kangaroo mice, shrews, woodrats, gophers, and pygmy rabbits. There are also a lot of reptiles because of the dry heat Utah provides. A very well-known reptile is the Gila monster. Snakes are also quite common. The wetlands of the Great Salt Lakes are home to many migrating waterfowl and shorebirds as well. Again, since the climate is so dry, and winters are so cold, plants need to adapt to this.
Despite that, there are still quite a lot of plants that grow here. A few examples are the white fir, water birch, Utah juniper, aspen daisy, and the sunflower. On the other hand, plants and animals of Kozhikode, India thrive in the heat. This city is home to the lion tailed macaque, brown palm civet, elephants, gaurs, tigers, leopards, bulbul, parakeet, sunbirds, and more.
- http://www.rususa.com/city/citymap.asp-city-salt+lake+city+utThis is a map of Salt Lake City, Utah.
- HYPERLINK “http://www.eindiatourism.com/kerala-india-maps/kozhikode-kerala-maps.html”
- http://www.eindiatourism.com/kerala-india-maps/kozhikode-kerala-maps.html
- This is a map of Kozhikode, India.https://drought.unl.edu/archive/climographs/SaltLakeCityANC.htm
- Here is a climograph of Salt Lake City. https://scied.ucar.edu/docs/why-monsoons-happenThe top part is a climograph of Kozhikode, India.
