Raven opens a letter from her pen pal in Hilo, Hawaii. "It rained again today," she reads aloud.
Rocket frowns. "My cousin in Phoenix says it almost never rains there."
"What do you notice?" Raven asks. "Both places are warm."
Nova projects a rain chart. "Warm is only half of climate," she says. "Rain matters too."
Climate is not only about hot and cold.
It is also about how much precipitation falls in a year.
Precipitation is water that falls from the sky, like rain or snow.
Deserts are the driest places. Many get about 10 inches of rain a year.
| Place | Normal precipitation in a year (inches) | Bar graph (each ■ is about 10 inches) |
|---|---|---|
| Hilo, Hawaii | 120.39 | ■■■■■■■■■■■■ |
| Seattle, Washington | 39.34 | ■■■■ |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | 31.62 | ■■■ |
| Phoenix, Arizona | 7.22 | ■ |
| Barrow, Alaska | 5.39 | ■ |
This data is from NOAA, for 1991 to 2020.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Hilo gets more rain than Seattle. | ? |
| Phoenix and Hilo have the same amount of rain. | ? |
| Climate includes temperature and precipitation. | ? |
Hilo gets about 120 inches of rain in a year.
Seattle gets about 39 inches. That means Hilo gets about three times as much.
Phoenix and Barrow get less than 8 inches each.
Climate counts both heat and water.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Rain and snow are both precipitation. | ? |
| A cold place can also be very dry. | ? |
| Deserts are the wettest places. | ? |
Wonderful! Tomorrow we sort the world into five climate types.