Climate

Climate refers to the average weather conditions of a place recorded for a long period of time say

 25 – 35 years.

Weather is the atmospheric conditions of a place for a short period of time e.g. an hour, a day, a week or a month.

Elements of weather

These are the conditions that make up the weather. They include;

Temperature                  –  cloud cover

Wind                     – Pressure

Rainfall                – Sunshine and Mist / fog

Tempurature

This refers to the degree of hotness or coldness of a given place / object.

Atmospheric temperature is measured and recorded using an instrument called maximum and minimum thermometer or six’s thermometer.

Importance of temperature

To crops:

It influences ripening of fruits.

It helps in drying harvested crops.

It influences the rate of transpiration.

It influences distribution of crops.

Influences sugar content of some crops e.g. oranges, pineapples, sugar.

To animals:

Influences the rate of egg laying in birds.

It influences the feeding rate of animals.

It affects milk composition in animals.

It affects livestock distribution.

Affects grazing in animals graze in morning and late in evening.

Temperature is usually expressed in 2 scales i.e.

  • Centigrade (0C)

The freezing and boiling points of water are taken as the standards in centigrade and are defined as 00C and 1000C respectively.

  • Fahrenheight / Frahrenheit (0f)

On this scale the freezing point of water is 320F and the boiling point is 2120F.

Conversion from one scale to another;

  • To convert 0C to 0F; we use the formula;
e17a1fec addd 4975 a668 a394756d5ea0

= 50 Degrees Fereheight (F)

To convert 0F to 0C we use the formula

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