Teaching Climate with Temperature and Precipitation Maps

As a middle school social studies teacher you may find yourself wrapping up that geography lesson after examining political maps.

But geography is so much more than political maps.

Geography determines climate (temperature and precipitation)

And climate drives culture. What you wear, what you grow, what you build with. They all depend on climate.

Take that in for a second!

So if we’re teaching a complete picture of the culture of a place, we need to understand the relationship between geography and climate.

And it gets a bit messy here since all this climate stuff might be more of a science topic.

If your science teacher is all in, you’re all set. But if you’re on your own, I’ve got you covered.

I’m here to tell you that you can easily elevate your geography lessons into a bit of a climate treasure hunt with elevation, temperature and precipitation maps.

Table of Contents

Latitude and Climate

We all know that latitude affects temperature.

Generally speaking, the farther away from the equator you travel, the colder it becomes.

Conversely, the closer to the equator you travel, the warmer it becomes.

But what if I told you the real magic happens when you overlay that temperature map with elevation and precipitation maps.

Here’s where the Treasure Hunt starts!

Climate = Temperature + Precipitation.

The climate of any location is the relationship between its temperature and precipitation.

But did you know that average temperatures of a place rely not just on its latitude but also on its elevation?

Stay with me here!

As you hike up this mountain it gets colder. And when you hike down it gets warmer.

Learning the Hard Way!!

I figured out this relationship between elevation and temperature quite by accident one Spring Break. We traveled from cold snowy Ohio to the Grand Canyon in late March. Only packed hoodies because of course we were headed to sunny WARM Arizona!

Flew into beautifully warm Phoenix at 1086′ elevation. Did not need the hoodies we wore.

Drove two hours north to Sedona at 4360′ elevation. Watched the Seguro cactuses transform into pine trees and scrub. Hoodies still fine during the day but cold at night and way too cold for my taste for the natural water slide in Slide Rock State Park.

Then we headed 2 hours north up winding switchback roads, through a snow storm, to the Grand Canyon at 6804′ elevation. Like what??

This is Arizona in the southern US. It’s supposed to be warm, right!

A road sign along the way alerted us that we had just reached 5000′ elevation. I thought that was kinda’ cool since we don’t see that in the Midwest or east coast.

Temps were in the 30s and our hoodies were just not cutting it. All we could buy at the tourist store were matching Grand Canyon windbreakers. I was absolutely NOT looking to invest in winter coats we should have brought from Ohio!

Lesson learned the hard way. Higher elevations are cold!! Lower elevations are warmer!!

Let’s talk Elevation, Temperature and Precipitation!

So I also discovered on my Arizona elevation journey, that not only did higher elevation mean colder temps but also more precipitation. Initially, that amazed me, but then I remembered the water cycle.

Heat evaporates.

Cold precipitates.

All Together Now!

Elevation determines Temperature

Temperature determines Precipitation

Precipitation determines Suitability for farming and living.

Higher Elevation = Lower Temperature and Higher Precipitation

Lower Elevation = Higher Temperature and Lower Precipitation

Did anyone mention dependent and independent variables!!

Here’s the Treasure Hunt

So given these relationships, wouldn’t it be interesting to compare an elevation map with a temperature map with a precipitation map to “see” this pattern. To “see” that temperature and precipitation aren’t just randomly occurring phenomenon in our world.

And I did.

And it is.

Just look at those patterns in Iraq, birthplace of Mesopotamia! Wowza!!

My students examine a set of these three maps for every culture we study. They find the areas of highest elevation and determine whether the temperature and precipitation patterns follow. When they don’t (like in monsoon India and China), there’s something else going on we need to discover.

My students (and I) learned to put the pieces of elevation, temperature and precipitation together to create a whole new level of understanding.

We discovered the WHY of a place instead of just memorizing a list of WHATs.

And that WHY drives the rest of Culture – Religion, Government, Achievements, Economy, Social Structure!

May the excitement be with you!!

Save Time!!

If you’re liking this Geography blog, you’ll love the Ancient History Geography and Map Resources I offer in my Looking to the Past store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Save hours researching and planning.

I’ve done it for you!