This climate type comes in two forms: Savanna and Monsoon climates. A Tropical Wet and Dry climate, as the name suggests, has a wet season and a dry season, both of which are warm. However, the time immediately preceding the wet season's beginning is usually the warmest part of the year (for much of the Indian Subcontinent, this is in April or May, but it tends to be in July for southern Florida and August for most of the Caribbean islands). Here are some good examples of areas with a Tropical Wet and Dry climate: southern Florida most Caribbean islands such as Cuba, Barbados, and Barbuda southern India the northern tip of Australia most of equatorial Africa, apart from the rainforests in the center and deserts in the east This climate has extremely little temperature variation, apart from small day-to-night variations. Having heavy rain in any given day is not uncommon. It is warm year-round, with very few areas in this climate type having an average low temperature below 15C (59F) for any month. Tropical rain forests tend to develop in and create this ultra-mild climate type. Here are some good examples of areas with a Tropical Wet climate: Brazil the northern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Indonesia Malaysia Singapore The Philippines Puerto Rico Hawaii A type of subtropical climate with mild, wet winters and long, hot summers that may be either dry or humid. Areas with this climate are generally freeze-free, which supports a wide diversity of plant and animal life, but may still have somewhat cool weather during winter months. Here are some good examples of areas with a Mediterranean climate: most of southern Europe, including almost all of Spain and Italy the southern and western coasts of Australia, including Perth lowland California, including San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Fransisco some of South Africa A type of subtropical climate with cool winters that receive mostly rain with occasional snowfall, and as the name suggests, these have long summers that are extremely hot, humid, and very rainy. Relatively mild winters support the presence of cold hardy palms, temperate rainforests, and other flora that cannot tolerate extreme cold, but anything that lives here must be able to cope with extreme heat and humidity. Here are some good examples of areas with a Humid Subtropical climate: most of southeastern China, including the densely populated areas such as Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai most of the southeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S.; this includes major cities such as New York City (the northernmost limit of this climate type on the Atlantic coast), Atlanta, Orlando, New Orleans, Dallas/Fort Worth, Nashville, Washington D.C., and Austin. southern Japan, except at high elevations northern India, again except at high elevations northern Argentina and the southernmost parts of Brazil most of the east coast of Australia, including Sydney and Brisbane some of South Africa This climate typically supports grasslands, steppes, or savannas, but may be marginal desert. These areas are at high risk of desertification and brush fires. They may be hot in summer and cool to mild in winter as in Texas, Oklahoma, and northeastern Namibia, or they may be very hot in summer and extremely cold in winter as in Kansas, North Dakota, and Kazakhstan. Here are some good examples of areas with a Semiarid climate: most of the Great Plains of the U.S., including the aforementioned Kansas and North Dakota eastern Kazakhstan northeastern Namibia central and western Texas the panhandle of Oklahoma some of South Africa This climate is basically a desert, making it very dry. It may come in one of two forms: it may be very hot in the summer and cool but typically freeze-free in the winter, or very hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter. This climate type is expanding at an alarming rate in a process that has been ominously named desertification. Here are some good examples of areas with an Arid climate: most of the U.S. west, except for the lowland areas connected to the Pacific coast (these have a Mediterranean or Oceanic Temperate climate); this includes cities such as Pheonix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City, as well as Death Valley which has the world's record high at a blistering 134F. western Kazakhstan, which has very extreme temperature variations and very little precipitation the Sahara desert in Africa most of the Australian Outback the Arabian subcontinent is almost completely covered in this climate type a lot of Pakistan, southern Afghanistan, and northern Mexico are also hot deserts This is the mild, wet form of temperate climate. It tends to make up the west coasts of temperate portions of continents, with cool to mild winters that get more rain than snow and mild to warm summers that rarely if ever get extreme heat. Like the Humid Subtropical climate type, this climate type is also highly conducive to temperate rainforests. Here are some good examples of areas with an Oceanic Temperate climate: western Washington State, western Oregon, and southeastern Alaska, including the cities of Seattle and Juneau, as well as the world-famous Hoh Rainforest in Washington State New Zealand the southernmost portions of South America the majority of France and western Germany the U.K. and Ireland Reykjavik, Iceland (marginal) These areas are characterized by four distinct seasons that are not mild. This climate comes in Warm Summer and Cool Summer subtypes. Summers are typically warm to hot in the former and mild in the latter, while winters are cold. The flora and fauna who live here must be able to cope with these temperature variations; deciduous trees shed their leaves during winter, late autumn, and early spring, and coniferous trees have a waxy coating on their needles to protect them from the cold. Here are some good examples of areas with a Continental climate: most of the northeastern U.S., apart from New York City and the mid-Atlantic coast Korea (both South and North Korea) central and eastern Europe western Asia in the mid-latitudes This climate type tends to be found along and just south of the Arctic Circle. It is extremely cold during winter, cold to cool during spring and autumn, and cool to mild during summer. The main drive behind the extreme temperature variations is large seasonal fluctuations in daylight hours. Here are some good examples of areas with a Subarctic climate: Russia Norway central and northern Canada most of Alaska Sweden Finland This climate type has an average temperature below 50F in the warmest month, which is too cold to support tree growth. Winters are long and very cold, and summers are short and cool; "spring" doesn't start at all until May, and remains cool and lasts into June and July, while August and September tend to be like the area's autumn but way cooler. Here are some good examples of areas with a Tundra climate: Barrow, Alaska the Canadian archipelago 25% of Greenland 2% of Antarctica Svalbard most of Iceland This climate type never has highs in excess of 0C (32F), and extreme cold is normal in all four seasons; this allows snow and ice to pile up, sometimes even several miles above the stony ground, but the very cold temperatures and often very large distance from liquid water produce very arid conditions as well. This climate type is only found in 75% of Greenland and 98% of Antarctica; the other 25% and 2% are entirely Tundra for both landmasses. This tends to be much like the base climate in most ways, but it has lower average temperatures due to the high elevation. The temperature decrease is proportional to the elevation increase, and may also lead to drier, foggier conditions in an otherwise humid climate. So, what climate type(s) do you prefer? As someone who is growing up in a Humid Subtropical climate, I could likely only stand to live in the first six climate types, and if it was a Semiarid or Arid climate type, it would need to be one of the warmer deserts like what the Sonoran Desert in North America is.
