Temperate climate

[1] These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year and more distinct seasonal changes compared to tropical climates, where such variations are often small; they usually differ only in the amount of precipitation.

They are influenced more by the tropics than by other temperate climate types, usually experiencing warmer temperatures throughout the year, with longer, hotter summers and shorter, milder winters.

Some Cwa areas in southern China report more than 80% of annual precipitation in the five warmest months (southwest monsoon).

This climate occurs mostly at the western edges and coasts of the continents and are bounded by arid deserts on their equatorward sides that brings dry winds causing the dry season of summer, and oceanic climates to the poleward sides that are influenced by cool ocean currents and air masses that bring the rainfall of winter.

This causes the climate to have mild summers and cool (but not cold) winters, and relative humidity and precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year.

In contrast to oceanic climates, they are created by large land masses and seasonal changes in wind direction.

[citation needed] This type of climate is even found in tropical areas such as the Papuan Highlands in Indonesia.

Even in the middle of summer, temperatures exceeding 20°C (68 °F) are exceptional weather events in the most maritime of those locations impacted by this regime.

[citation needed] A cold variant of the monsoon-influenced subtropical highland climate similar to subpolar oceanic climates occurs in small areas in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, and parts of the Altiplano between Bolivia, Peru and Chile, where summers are sufficiently short to be Cwc with fewer than four months over 10 °C (50 °F) due to the high altitudes at these locations.

[13] El Alto, Bolivia, is one of the few confirmed towns that features this variation of the subtropical highland climate.

[14] The vast majority of the world's human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land and lack of extreme temperatures.

[16] Farming is a large-scale practice in the temperate regions (except for boreal/subarctic regions) due to the plentiful rainfall and warm summers, because most agricultural activity occurs in the spring and summer, cold winters have a small effect on agricultural production.

One factor is the strength of the absorption rate of buildings and asphalt, which is higher than that of natural land.

A Köppen–Geiger climate map showing temperate climates for 1991–2020
The different geographical zones of the world. The temperate zones, in the sense of geographical regions defined by latitude, span from either north or south of the subtropics (north or south of the orange dotted lines, at 35 degrees north or south) to the polar circles .
Regions where the humid (Cfa) and dry-winter subtropical (Cwa) climates are found.
Regions where the dry-summer subtropical or Mediterranean climates (Csa, Csb) are found.
Regions where oceanic or subtropical highland climates (Cfb, Cfc, Cwb, Cwc) are found.