What makes the climate of one place different from another?
Explain the factors that control climate (latitude, elevation, proximity to water, ocean currents, mountain barriers and prevailing winds) and distinguish climate from weather.
A Regents answer on climate controls: the difference between weather and climate, how latitude, elevation, proximity to large bodies of water, ocean currents, mountain barriers (orographic effect and rain shadows) and prevailing winds set a region's temperature and precipitation, and why coastal and inland climates differ, with worked exam questions.
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What this topic is asking
The Regents wants you to distinguish climate from weather and to explain the factors that control climate: latitude, elevation, proximity to water, ocean currents, mountain barriers (the rain shadow), and prevailing winds. Most questions ask you to compare two places and explain why their climates differ.
Weather versus climate
The factors that control climate
The mountain effect: orographic precipitation and rain shadows
This single mechanism explains many deserts that sit just behind mountain ranges, and it ties together cooling, condensation (from the moisture topic) and prevailing winds.
Why coastal and inland climates differ
Because water heats and cools slowly (high specific heat) while land heats and cools quickly, a coastal city has cooler summers and warmer winters (a small annual range), while an inland city has hotter summers and colder winters (a large range). Add a warm or cold current offshore and the effect grows: a warm current makes a coast milder and wetter; a cold current makes it cooler and drier.
Try this
Q1. State the difference between weather and climate. [1 point]
- Cue. Weather is the atmosphere's state at a place and moment; climate is the long-term average weather of a region.
Q2. Explain why the leeward side of a mountain range is often dry. [2 points]
- Cue. Air loses its moisture as rain rising up the windward side; descending the leeward side it warms and dries, creating a rain shadow.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of NYSED exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Regents (style)1 marksPart A. The windward side of a mountain range is wet and green, while the leeward side is dry desert. This dry leeward region is best described as a (1) rain shadow (2) coastal plain (3) high-pressure belt (4) trade-wind zone. Justify your choice.Show worked answer →
A 1-point multiple-choice question. The answer is (1).
As moist air is forced up the windward side it cools, condenses and drops its rain; descending the leeward side it warms and dries, leaving a dry region called a rain shadow. A coastal plain (2) is a landform, not a climate effect; a high-pressure belt (3) and trade-wind zone (4) are global features, not the local effect of a single range. The trap is choosing a global pattern; the rain shadow is the specific leeward-side drying caused by the mountain barrier.
Regents (style)3 marksPart C. Two cities lie at the same latitude. City A is on the coast; City B is far inland. (a) State which city has the smaller annual temperature range and why. (b) Explain how a nearby warm ocean current would further affect City A's climate. (c) Explain how increasing elevation changes the climate of a mountain town at the same latitude.Show worked answer →
A 3-point extended-response question.
(a) 1 point: City A (the coast) has the smaller temperature range, because the nearby water (high specific heat) warms and cools slowly, moderating its temperatures; City B (inland) swings more.
(b) 1 point: a warm current would raise City A's temperatures, especially in winter, and add moisture, making the climate milder and more humid.
(c) 1 point: higher elevation makes the climate colder (temperature decreases with altitude in the troposphere), so the mountain town is cooler than lower towns at the same latitude.
Markers reward the coast-moderates reasoning, the warm-current warming/moistening, and the cooler-with-altitude effect.
Related dot points
- Explain how ocean surface currents form (winds, the Coriolis effect) and how they redistribute heat, moderate coastal climates and connect to density-driven deep circulation.
A Regents answer on the oceans: how prevailing winds and the Coriolis effect drive surface currents into gyres, how warm and cold currents redistribute heat and moderate coastal climates (for example the Gulf Stream), the difference between surface and density-driven deep circulation, and the link to the water specific heat on the Reference Tables, with worked exam questions.
- Describe the layered structure and composition of the atmosphere and explain how energy is transferred by radiation, conduction and convection, including how surfaces absorb and reflect insolation.
A Regents answer on the atmosphere and energy transfer: the layered structure (troposphere to thermosphere) and temperature profile on the Reference Tables, the composition (nitrogen, oxygen, trace gases), the three modes of heat transfer (radiation, conduction, convection), and how surface color and texture affect the absorption and reflection of insolation, with worked exam questions.
- Classify air masses, describe the weather at warm and cold fronts and around high- and low-pressure systems, and interpret weather maps and the Reference Tables station model.
A Regents answer on weather systems: how air masses are classified (maritime/continental, tropical/polar), the weather at cold and warm fronts, high-pressure (clear, sinking, diverging) versus low-pressure (cloudy, rising, converging) systems, the typical west-to-east movement across New York, and how to decode the Reference Tables weather station model, with worked exam questions.
- Explain how the tilt of Earth's axis and its revolution change the angle and duration of insolation through the year, producing the seasons, the solstices and the equinoxes.
A Regents answer on insolation and the seasons: why the 23.5 degree axial tilt and Earth's revolution change the angle and duration of insolation, the solstices and equinoxes, the Sun's path across the sky at New York latitudes, and why summer is warm even though Earth is near aphelion.
- Explain the greenhouse effect and the role of greenhouse gases, distinguish natural from human-enhanced climate change, and describe the evidence for and consequences of recent global warming.
A Regents answer on the greenhouse effect and climate change: how greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor) trap outgoing infrared energy and warm the surface, natural versus human-enhanced warming from burning fossil fuels, the evidence (rising carbon dioxide and temperature, melting ice, rising seas) and consequences, with worked exam questions.
Sources & how we know this
- Reference Tables for Physical Setting/Earth Science (2011 edition) — New York State Education Department (2011)
- Regents Examination in Physical Setting/Earth Science — New York State Education Department (2026)